

, A * * V * N! • 



DISCOURSES. 



I 



DISCOURSES 

ON THE 

EVIDENCE 

OP THE 

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN REVELATIONS. 

WITH 

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

BY 

SIR HENRY MONCREIFF-WELLWOOD, Bart. 

D. D. F. R. S. EDINBURGH. 




EDINBURGH: 

PRINTED BY GEORGE RAMSAY AND COMPANY, 
FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, AND WILLIAM 
WHYTE, EDINBURGH; AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND 
BROWN, AND THOMAS HAMILTON, LONDON. 



1815. 



JflWQl 



PREFACE 



In the following Discourses, the author has 
had no other object, than to collect the lead- 
ing facts, on which the evidence of the Jew- 
ish and Christian revelations depend ; and to 
represent them in a connected view, within 
such a narrow compass, as should render 
them accessible to common readers. 

They contain sketches, and nothing more, 
of what has been much more completely dis- 
cussed by Mill, Wetstein, Jones, Sherlock, 
Lardner, Michaelis, Watson, Paley, and 
many others ; though he is not aware, that 
the several parts of the argument in the fol- 
lowing Discourses have before been stated in 
a continued series. 

He has availed himself of whatever has 
been written by others, without reserve ; and 
is at least as sensible as his readers can be, 
i 



vi 



PREFACE. 



thai he has no claim to any personal merit 
from such a compilation. 

He has arrived at that period of life, when 
the humblest sphere of usefulness should be 
more interesting, than any degree of literary 
reputation. And his object will therefore 
be gained, if the following Discourses shall 
be found to contain any thing which shall 
serve to add to the information, or to remove 
the doubts, or to confirm the faith, of the 
least informed of those who shall peruse 
them. 

He is sensible that they have not the cor- 
rectness which, with more leisure, he might 
have given them ; and that there are some- 
times repetitions, and frequently a diffuse- 
ness, which might have been avoided. 

They have been written at intervals, in the 
midst of many avocations ; and he has only 
to express his hope> that their defects shall 
be ascribed, not to the subject, but to the au- 
thor. However he may have failed in the 
execution of his plan, he allows himself to 



PREFACE. 



vii 



believe, that his general object will not be 
thought unworthy of attention. 

He is persuaded, that Judaism and Christ- 
ianity are inseparably conjoined as the re- 
velations of God ; and that everything which 
is most important to mankind, and to every 
individual, — to the prosperity of the present 
world, and to every expectation beyond it, — 
depends on the influence and progress of ge- 
nuine Christianity. 

H. M. W. 

Edinburgh, <ZQth February 1815. 



CONTENTS. 



DISCOURSE I. 

On the Authority of Judaism. 

Luke, xvi. 31. 
—If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they 
t>e persuaded, though one rose from the dead. . . . Page I 

DISCOURSE II. 

On the Doctrine of Immortality revealed tp 
the Jews. 

From the same Text Page 45 

DISCOURSE III. 

On Typical Christianity. 

1 Peter, i. 10, 11,12. 
—Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and search- 
ed diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should 
come unto you ; searching what, or what manner of time 
the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when 
b 



CONTENTS. 



it testified before-hand the sufferings of Christ, and the 
_ glory which should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, 
that not unto themselves but unto us, they did minister 
the things which are now reported unto you, by them 
that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy 
Ghost sent down from Heaven Page 99 

DISCOURSE IV. 

On Prophecy. 

1 Peter, i. 10. 
— Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and search- 
ed diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should 
come unto you Page 127 

DISCOURSE V. 

On the Authenticity of the New Testament 

Scriptures. 

1 Peter, i. 25. 
The word of the Lord endureth for ever ; and this is the word 
which, by the gospel, is preached unto you. . . . Page 201 

DISCOURSE VI. 
On the Internal Evidence of the New Testa- 

merit Scriptures. 
From the same Text *. Page 289 

DISCOURSE VII. 

On Miracles. 

Acts, ii. 23. 

^—Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, bv 



CONTENTS. Xi 

miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in 
the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. . . Page 3§7 

RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. 
Page 445. 

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 485. 



ERRATA. 



Page 46, line 4, instead of apprehensions* read apprehension. 
66, 3, from the bottom, dele " they." 
110, 15, in place of character, read characters. 
127, 4, from the bottom, instead of revealed the Jews, riad re<* 

vealed to the Jews. 
157, h in place of on his throne. He seeing, read on his throne* 

— He seeing. 

1 83, Note at the bottom, in place of Le Clerk, read Le Clerc. 

254, The letters of reference to the Note at the end of the volume, 
are wanting by mistake at the bottom of this page. 

296, Note at the bottom, in place of 393, read 293. 

442, line 15, in place of through time and eternity. The simplicity 
ready through time and eternity ;— The simplicity. 

445, 4, in place of God shall be ail in all : He who, read God 
shall be all in all. He who. 

437, in place of (Asiatic Researches* Vol. II. and the eighth and 
ninth of his Anniversary Discourses, Vol. III.) read (Asi- 
atic Researches, Vol. II.) and the eighth and ninth of his 
Anniversary Discourses, (Vol. III.) 

495, 14, in place of have once referred, read has once referred. 

500, 7, in place of labentibus, cunctis, read labentibus cunctis. 

iVcte.-- -What is said of the revelation made to the aged Simeon, (p. 
191, line a,) at the time of our Lord's birth, is so expressed that the au- 
thor's meaning may be misapprehended. He did not mean to say, that 
the system of ancient prophecy had been carried on without interruption 
to that time ; for it was probably suspended after the age of Malachi. 
He intended no more than to represent the revelations made to Simeon 
and others about the time of our Lord's birth, as a revival of the system 
of ancient prophecy, which connected the Jewish theocracy with the 
Christian dispensation. 



DISCOURSE I. 

ON THE AUTHORITY OF JUDAISM, 



Luke xvi. 31. 

" If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, 
neither will they be persuaded, though one 
rose from the dead " 

The Evidence on which Christianity de- 
pends, has stood the test of the most rigid 
inquiry for eighteen hundred years. The 
most specious arguments of infidelity, the 
more they have been examined, have contri- 
buted to render that Evidence so much the 
more convincing and complete. 

The doctrines of unbelievers have assum- 
ed every form by which it has been thought 
possible to adapt them to the taste and man- 

A 



2 



THE AUTHORITY 



ners of different times. When the serious ob- 
jections to the authority of religion have been 
refuted and renewed from age to age, every 
engine, which ingenuity and sarcasm com- 
bined could create, has been employed to un- 
dermine what sophistry and argument have 
assailed in vain. 

The insidious surmises which querulous in- 
fidelity seizes with avidity, need give no great 
alarm to enlightened and sincere believers. 
They are recollected with scorn, as soon as 
real knowledge is employed to appreciate 
them ; and he who was at first delighted 
with the sarcasm, is at last compelled to 
despise the argument which he supposed it 
to contain. 

The authority of Revelation has ultimately 
gained in the judgment of mankind, by the 
free discussion of every objection which has 
been brought against it, either by the learn- 
ing or the malice of its adversaries. Even 
they who are not convinced, will not deny, 
that, on a subject of such awful concern as 
religion, they ought to be fully ascertained of 
the grounds on which they venture to reject 
any serious argument in its favour. They 
have at least good reason to consider, whether, 



OF JUDAISM. 



3 



supposing them to be true, it was possible to 
have promulgated the doctrines of religion 
on better evidence, than that by which they 
are supported in the Jewish and Christian 
revelations ? And, as it is much easier to as- 
sert than to shew that another kind of proof 
would have been more decisive, it must be 
of importance to unbelievers themselves to 
inquire, whether, while they disregard the 
evidence of revelation as it stands, their state 
of mind has not also prepared them to re- 
ject every other kind of proof which could 
have been applied to the subject ? 

It is of more importance still to those who 
rely on the authority of religion, to ascertain 
the grounds on which they build their faith, 
so as not only to guard themselves against 
the insidious representations of unbelievers, 
but to be able, when the occasion requires 
it, to give a satisfying reason for the hope 
that is in them. 

Without pretending to discuss, at large, a 
subject to which the learning of ages has 
been applied, — and far from presuming to lay 
claim either to novelty or original research, — 
I propose to represent some of the grounds 
of our belief, in a form suited to the most 



4 



THE AUTHORITY 



common apprehensions of mankind, and to 
suggest the most obvious and useful illus- 
trations. 

The points which I have chiefly in view 
are these : — The Evidence which was given 
to the ancient Jews for the authority of their 
peculiar Revelation — The Testimony to the 
truth of Christianity, which is to be found 
in the writings of Moses and the Prophets — 
The Authority with which the Scriptures of 
the New Testament have come down to us 
— and, The Evidence arising from the mi- 
racles by which the Gospel was at first con- 
firmed. 

After stating these different views of the 
Evidence of Religion, I shall suggest a few 
of the practical results to which they should 
naturally lead us. 

I begin with the Evidence which was given 
to the ancient Jews for the authority of 
their peculiar revelation. 

In the parable from which the text is ta- 
ken, a rich man, who had spent an irreligi- 
ous and sensual life, is represented, after his 
death, as lifting up his eyes in the place 
appointed for the punishment of obstinate 
impenitence. After a vain supplication for 



OF JUDAISM. 



relief to himself, he abandons every hope ; 
and is then represented as expressing, even 
in the place of torment, an extreme solici- 
tude for five brethren whom he had left in 
the world, — men as sensual and irreligi- 
ous as himself. His anxiety for them is 
described as turning on this single point — 
his apprehension, that they, persisting, as he 
had done, in their vices and unbelief, might 
be ultimately consigned to the same place of 
torment, which he found to be so exquisite- 
ly insupportable, and which he now knew, 
from fatal experience, to be beyond the reach 
of any change or relaxation. 

A more striking idea cannot be given of 
the irreparable consequences of an ungodly 
life, or of the exquisite regrets of a human 
being, who, with all his recollections and 
sensibilities entire, is doomed to suffer the 
punishment of final impenitence. 

The anguish of this wretched man, and 
an affection for his family, which w r as not 
even then extinguished, are represented as 
dictating an earnest supplication, that a spe- 
cial messenger from the dead might be sent 
to his five brethren, to warn them of the 
consequences of an impenitence in which he 



6 



THE AUTHORITY 



knew them to live, and in which he himself 
had unhappily died. 

In answer to this supplication, he is re- 
minded, that they had Moses and the Pro- 
phets to instruct and to warn them. But 
he, judging from his past experience, and 
from his present feelings, rather than from 
the sound information to be received from 
Moses and the prophets, anxiously rejoins, 
" Nay, but if one went to them from the dead 
they will repent." 

The text, which contains the reply, as- 
sumes it as a fact, that the general authority 
of religion was sufficiently demonstrated by 
the Scriptures of the Old Testament ; and that 
they who were obstinate in rejecting their 
testimony, would be equally obdurate, though 
a messenger were raised from the dead on 
purpose to enlighten them. " If they hear 
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they 
be persuaded, though one rose from the 
dead." 

To enter into this conclusion, we must 
attend to the circumstances by which the 
ancient Jews were taught to rely on the au- 
thority of their peculiar revelation : And 
• will naturally observe, 



OF JUDAISM. 



7 



I. That the scriptures of the Old Testa- 
ment are the record of their history, as well 
as of their faith. 

The existence and antiquity of the Jews, 
as a separate people, and the great outlines 
of their history, are admitted to be unques- 
tionable, even by those who are lease disposed 
to allow the authority of their religion. And 
among themselves, there is no period to be 
found, either in the late or remote ages, in 
which their scriptures, which have come 
down to us, were not universally acknow- 
ledged to contain their genuine history. 

After the Mosaic account of the creation, 
the deluge, and the dispersion at Babel, the 
Old Testament relates the origin and descent 
of the Jews from Abraham ; — -the arrival and 
settlement of their ancestors in Palestine ; — 
the emigration of Jacob's family into Egypt ; 
the subsequent servitude of their posterity 
among the Egyptians ;— their release from 
the tyranny of Pharaoh under the conduct of 
Moses ; — their journeys through the wilder- 
ness ; — their ultimate settlement in the land 
of Canaan ; — the separation and final disper- 
sion of the ten tribes ; — the Babylonish capti- 
vity ; — the restoration of the Jews to their 



THE AUTHORITY 



own country ; — the peculiar religion and ri- 
tual, which, in every period of their history, 
separated them from all other nations, and 
which they preserved from one generation to 
another, as the original law entrusted to their 
fathers, till both their civil and religious in- 
stitutions were finally dissolved ; and till the 
people who survived the extinction of their 
commonwealth were expelled from Judea, 
and scattered, as they have ever since been, 
among all the nations of the world. 

These leading facts every Jew receives on 
the authority of the Old Testament, not on- 
ly as the genuine primeval history of the 
world, but as the authentic history of his 
own country j — far more ancient than any 
other written record ;* — and, in spite of the 
malignant surmises of infidelity, supported 
by every genuine monument of antiquity, 
which the industry of ages has discovered. 

But the Jews did not merely receive their 
Scriptures as authentic history. It was the 
first principle both of their civil constitution 
and of their religious ordinances, that their 
Scriptures contained a divine revelation, to 
which every appeal was to be made, in go- 



See note A. at the end of the volume, 



OF JUDAISM. 



i 

9 



vernment, in morals, and in religion. Du- 
ring the course of our Lord's personal mi- 
nistry, the authority of the Jewish Scrip- 
tures, as inspired books, is uniformly sup- 
posed to be incontrovertible, in every thing 
which he addressed to the Pharisees, the 
Sadducees, the Scribes, or the Priests ; or 
which was stated by them in their inter- 
course with him. 

Nor, in adverting to this fact, is it neces- 
sary to make an exception of the Sadducees, 
whom some of the most respectable writers 
on ancient history have supposed to have 
confined their ideas of the canonical Scrip- 
tures to the five books of Moses. Though 
this were admitted to be certain, it would 
not affect the substance of the general argu- 
ment, while the books of Moses are allowed 
to have been received as the revelation of God. 

But the assertion, though it may be true, 
has been assumed without being proved. 
For the Jewish historian, Josephus, has said 
nothing more definite on the subject, than, 
that the Pharisees, having " delivered to the 
people a great many observances by succes- 
sion, from their fathers, which are not writ- 
ten in the laws of Moses," the Sadducees, 



10 



THE AUTHORITY 



for that reason, reject them, and only 66 esteem 
those observances to be obligatory, which 
are in the written word" but do not hold as 
obligatory " what are derived from the tra- 
dition of their forefathers." * 

What, then, was the evidence of which 
every Jew must have supposed himself in 
possession, for the authority of the religion 
which he had received from his fathers ? 

The history of the Old Testament contains 
a continued series of miraculous interposi- 
tions in favour of the Jewish people, from the 
date of the calling of Abraham, when their 
separation began, to the time when the canon 
of the Old Testament was closed. 

Was it possible that a Jew could have re- 
ceived more irresistible evidence for the truth 
of his religion than that which he possessed, 
when (after the primeval history of the 
world, the regeneration of the human race 
in the descendants of Noah, and the division 
of the earth among the three families of 
which they consisted,) he received, as indis- 
putable facts, the successive revelations made 
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the many 



* See Note B, 



OF JUDAISM. 



11 



supernatural events which accompanied and 
attested them ; — the miracles which were 
done by Moses in Egypt before the Israe- 
lites were released from captivity ; — their mi- 
raculous journey through the Red Sea to the 
wilderness; — the miracles which attended 
them there, (and especially those which di- 
rectly attested the authority of their law ;)— 
and the astonishing revelations of Mount 
Sinai ; — the continued inspiration of Moses, 
of Joshua, and their successors, while they led 
the people to the land of promise, or plant- 
ed and governed them there ; — the visible 
and miraculous symbols of the presence of 
God, which attended Moses and the congre- 
gation of Israel in the wilderness, and which 
afterwards rested between the cherubims in 
the ark of the covenant, and in the temple 
of Jerusalem ; — the miraculous providence 
which accompanied the Israelites, for a long 
succession of time, after they were in pos- 
session of the territory of Canaan ; — the 
perpetuity of the Jewish ritual, from the 
date of the institutions of Moses to the time 
when the Messiah appeared ; — and, finally, 
the successive revelations given to the Jewish 
prophets, frequently attested by visible mi- 



12 



THE AUTHORITY 



racles which they had the power of perform- 
ing, and the wonderful accomplishment of 
their predictions, with regard to almost 
every remarkable event by which the Jew- 
ish state was affected ? 

Did a Jew receive all this series of singu^ 
lar and supernatural events as incontroverti- 
ble facts ? Did he believe that they belong- 
ed to the authentic history of his own na- 
tion ? And is it possible to conceive, that 
stronger or more irresistible evidence could 
have been given to him, for the authority of 
the religion which he believed to have come 
from God ? 

These facts he must have believed, if he 
did not reject the authority of the Mosaic 
history from its commencement. Indeed it 
is scarcely conceivable, that he could have 
observed or reflected on the visible memo- 
rials of ancient events, found in Jerusalem, in 
the temple, and through all the land of pro- 
mise, which the Jewish nation preserved for 
so many ages, and allow himself seriously 
to question the facts to which they certainly 
referred. 

It must follow, as an irresistible conse- 
quence 3 that the authority of the whole sys- 

4- 



OF JUDAISM. 



13 



tern of religion, in which the history of the 
Jews is involved, commencing with the crea- 
tion of the world, and the fall of man, and 
terminating where the gospel began, must 
have appeared to themselves to be as un- 
questionable, as the facts to which they re- 
ferred their civil and religious institutions. 

But is the evidence by which the autho- 
rity of the Jewish scriptures is established, 
satisfactory only to the Jews ? 

If we judge of the authenticity of the 
books of the Old Testament (without ta- 
king their inspiration into view,) by the 
same rules which we apply to other ancient 
writings, it will, I am convinced, appear 
to be established, by evidence more com- 
plete and satisfactory, than that which will 
be found applicable to any other ancient 
writing which has come down to us. 

They are admitted to be the oldest books 
in existence ; and that they were, in general, 
written at the periods to which they are re- 
ferred, and were most scrupulously preserv- 
ed from corruption by the Jews, to whose 
custody they were entrusted, is ascertained 
by circumstances of the most unquestion- 
able certainty. 



14 



THE AUTHORITY 



The leading facts which they contain are, 
besides, attested by the most ancient memo- 
rials which any other people have transmit- 
ted to modern times. 

The primeval history of the globe, and of 
the human race, though related by Moses 
with a minuteness peculiar to himself, was 
handed down to other nations as well as to 
the Jews ; and though, from the imperfec- 
tion of the most ancient heathen records and 
traditions, it has been disfigured and per- 
verted in its progress, its leading outlines 
are, notwithstanding, so clearly preserved, as 
to ascertain, to the conviction of every well- 
informed and impartial man, that the facts 
conveyed to Jews and Heathens, through 
those different channels, have all come from 
the same original source. 

The eastern antiquarians who assert, that, 
next to the books of Moses, the Vedas, if 
not the Puranas of India, are the most ancient 
writings existing in the world, * have con- 
vinced themselves, not only that the Mosaic 
and Christian chronologies are perfectly con- 
sistent, but that the historical facts related 

* See Note C. 



OF JUDAISM. 



15 



by Moses, are substantially the same with 
those which are preserved in India, concern- 
ing the creation of the world — the origin of 
the human race — the fall of man — the de- 
luge which destroyed the old world — the 
preservation of eight individuals in an ark — 
the division of their posterity into three fa- 
milies — and their ultimate separation into 
the different quarters of the world. 

When these facts are extracted from Sans- 
crit books, which till lately were almost en- 
tirely unknown to Europeans, they are dis- 
tinct and irresistible attestations of the ex- 
act correspondence between the earliest tra- 
ditions among the human race, and the his- 
torical narrative of Moses. * 

In the western world, the writings nearest 
in antiquity to the books of Moses, (though 
much later than the Vedas,) are " those 
which make either the most distinct men- 
tion, or the most evident allusion to the facts 
related in Genesis, concerning the formation 
of the world from a chaotic mass, the pri- 
meval innocence and subsequent fall of man, 
the longevity of mankind in the first ages of 
the world, the depravity of the antediluvians, 



* See Note D. 



16 



the authority 



and the destruction of the world." u And ? 
with regard to the origin of nations, every 
one who reads, in the writings of Moses, 
the names of Assur, and Elam, and Lud, and 
Madai, and Javan, and Tiras, as so many of 
the grandsons of Noah, to whom the earth 
was divided after the flood, readily con- 
nects them with the people known as As- 
syrians, Elamites, Lydians, Medes, Ionians, 
and Thracians."* 

The fables related of Deucalion's flood a- 
mong the western, and of Menu's deluge a- 
mong the eastern nations, must be set down, 
by all competent judges, as relating to the 
great catastrophe which destroyed the old 
world, so particularly recorded by Moses. 

Noah among the Jews and Chaldeans, is 
Deucalion among the Greeks, and Menu in 
India, f 

Josephus, whose references to heathen au- 
thors are not less valuable because he himself 
was a Jew, tells. us that Berosus, who wrote 
a history of Chaldea in the time of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus (240 years before Christ,) re- 

* Bishop of Landaff's Apology for the Bible, p. 76, 78. 
f Asiat. Researches, Vol. II. p. 401, 



OF JUDAISM. 



17 



lates, not from Jewish books, but from the 
most ancient records of Chaldea, the history 
of the deluge, and of the destruction ot man- 
kind thereby, and that his account of these 
events agrees with the narrative of Moses ; 
that he afterwards mentions the ark of Noah, 
which rested (he says,) on a mountain of Ar- 
menia ; that he gives a catalogue of Noah's 
posterity ; and, last of all, that he relates the 
Babylonish captivity, and the desolation of 
Jerusalem for seventy years, till the days of 
Cyrus, king of Persia.* 

The outline of the later history of the 
Jews, the peculiarity of their laws and 
usages, their resolute adherence to them, and 
their marked separation from every other peo- 
ple, are attested by the general history of the 
world, by the inveterate hatred universally 
excited against the Jews, and by almost every 
ancient reference made to Palest ne or Judea. 
They are attested, not merely by Jews or 
Christians, or by men who were disposed to 
speak favourably of Judaism, but " by the 
philosophers, historians, and poets of anti- 
quity." f 

* Josephus, Book I. against Apion, sect. 19. 

+ Sec the Bishop of Landaff's Apology, p. 75, Grotius de 

B 



18 



THE AUTHORITY 



When the testimony given by Heathen 
writers to any remote facts in the Jewish 
history, and especially to any minute or mi- 
raculous events contained in it, is manifestly 
given without design, or is entirely inciden- 
tal or collateral, it is much more convincing 
and irresistible, than the most direct defence 
of their historical truth would have been. 

When Herodotus, the father of profane 
history, tells us, from the priests of Egypt, 
that their traditions had informed them, that, 
in very remote ages, the sun had four times 
departed from his regular course^ having 
twice set where he ought to have risen, and 
twice risen where he ought to have set, — it is 
impossible to read this most singular tradi- 
tion, without recollecting the narrative in the 
book of Joshua, which relates, " That the sun 
stood still in the midst of Heaven, and hast- 
ed not to go down about a whole day and 
the fact related in the history of Hezekiah, 
" that the sun went back ten degrees on the 
dial of Ahaz." The priests of Egypt pro- 
fessed to explain the revolutions of the Nile, 
the fertility of their country, and the state of 

Veritate Religionis Christianas, lib. i. sect, 16, and the many 

authorities quoted by him. 



I 



OF JUDAISM. 



;19 



public health, by the influence of the sun; and, 
therefore, in mentioning the unexampled tra- 
ditional phenomena alluded to, they adverted 
to a circumstance, which to them appeared as 
remarkable as the facts themselves, that those 
singular deviations of the sun from his 
course, had produced no sensible effects on 
the state of the river, on the productions of 
the soil, on the progress of diseases, or on 
deaths. The circumstances are not men- 
tioned in the same form by Joshua and He- 
rodotus, but they are in substance the same 
in both the narratives. And, supposing the 
traditions to have been founded on facts, 
it can scarcely be doubted that they re- 
late to the same events ; especially when we 
recollect, that where so much was ascribed 
tG the influence ol the sun, such remarkable 
deviations from the course of ordinary expe- 
rience, could not fail to be handed down 
through many ages. # 

Varro and Tacitus have distinctly told us, 
that the ancients were accustomed to ascribe 
to Hercules every great and singular achieve- 
ment, from whatever quarter it was derived; 



* Herodotus Vallae, Euterpe, p. 144, 145, 



20 



THE AUTHORITY 



and when we find the poet Lycophron, three 
hundred years before Christ, relating of 
Hercules, that he was three nights in the 
belly of a whale, or a sea-lion ;* and ./Eneas 
Gazeus, in Theophrastus, at a period equal- 
ly remote, relating the same fact of Hercu- 
les, when he was shipwrecked ; we can have 
no reason to dcubt, that a direct allusion was 
made by both, to a traditional account of the 
Old Testament history of Jonah the prophet. 

Tacitus, whose hatred of the Jews was 
uniform and inveterate, relates, as authentic 
facts, the history of Moses as the leader of 
the Israelites from Egypt, to whom (he says) 
they committed themselves as to a heavenly 
guide — the miraculous supply of water given 
them from the rock at Horeb — the expulsion 
of the original inhabitants of Canaan — the 
ultimate settlement of the Israelites in their 
place, and the consequent building of the 
city and temple of Jerusalem. 

There can be no doubt, that, without the 
least degree of favour to the Jews, he in- 
tended to record, as historically true, both 
the narrative and the miracles which he 

* Lycophronis Alexandra, edit. Potteri, 1697, p. 7. 



OF JUDAISxM. 



21 



relates. In expressing the contempt and 
detestation with which he regarded the Jew- 
ish people, he incorporates with his own his- 
tory their singular rites and usages — their pe- 
culiar worship and sacrifices — their absti- 
nence from the flesh of swine — their rest on 
the Sabbath — their year of jubilee — their un- 
leavened bread — their obstinate refusal to 
worship the gods of the nations, or on any 
terms to pay divine honours to kings or 
emperors — the absolute exclusion of the ima- 
ges of gods and men from their cities, and 
from their temples — and, though with many 
fictions and exaggerations intermixed, all the 
leading distinctions which separated them 
from other nations. * 

Judea, and Jewish books, were, in the 
time of Tacitus at least, better known to the 
Romans than they had formerly been; 
though the ignorance even of their learned 
men, both of Judaism and Christianity, at a 
much later period, cannot be recollected 
without astonishment. But the attestation of 
Tacitus is not on this account less import- 
ant. For it proves, that, at this time, enough 
was known of the Jews, to the most enlight- 



* Taciti Hist, lib. Ti. sect. 3, 4, 5. 



THE AUTHORITY 



ened of the Romans, to enable them to judge 
of the Jewish history, and, therefore, that 
their attestation of the credit given to the 
leading facts which it contains, is an authen- 
tic document, which no modern unbeliever 
has a right to reject. 

Longinus, who lived in the third century, 
mentions the legislator of the Jews as a man 
not to be despised, who knew the power of 
God, and described it with a sublimity suit- 
ed to the subject, when he said, " Let there 
be light, and there was light." And Chal- 
cidius, a Greek philosopher, who lived about 
the same time with Longinus, speaks of Mo- 
ses <c as the wisest of men," and as one who 
was believed to have been guided by " di- 
vine inspiration." * 

It would be easy to collect from ancient 
authors a multiplicity of other testimonies 
to the historical truth of the Jewish anti- 
quities. Those which have been mentioned 
ought to have the more weight, that, with a 
few exceptions, they are given by authors 
who equally despised the character and the 
religion of the Jews ; and who had no interi- 

* Longinus de Sublimitate, sect. 9. Grotius, lib. i. sect 
16. Note. 



OV JUDAISM. 



tion whatever to do them honour, either 
with their own age or with posterity. 

I have kept out of view, in this repre- 
sentation, all the internal evidence of Ju- 
daism, and every argument for the authenti- 
city of the Old Testament, which arises 
from the nature of its institutions, its laws, 
its prophecies, its general doctrines, and its 
ultimate design. These points will after- 
wards occur to us. 

The detail I have given, which might 
have been extended far beyond the limits 
within which this discourse must be con- 
fined, is sufficient to shew, that, judg- 
ing of the narrative of the Old Testament 
by the common rules applied to ancient 
books and to historical facts, the evidence 
of its authenticity is satisfactory and com- 
plete. It is in truth more complete than 
any evidence of the same kind, applicable to 
any other ancient writing which has reached 
our times. There is by no means the same ex- 
tent of foreign testimony, in support of any 
Indian, Phoenician, Greek, or Roman book, 
which we are accustomed to receive without 
suspicion, as an authentic document from 
ihe ancient world. 



THE AUTHORITY 



The history of the Jews of necessity in- 
volves many narratives of a miraculous pro- 
vidence, from which unbelievers have most 
inconsistently deduced arguments against its 
truth or authenticity ; while, on the other 
side, the prodigies which every heathen re- 
cord has intermixed with its narratives, have 
never been held as the foundation of an ar- 
gument for rejecting the facts, in which the 
general history of nations is involved. Nor 
is it thought necessary to abandon the rule 
which supposes the authenticity of these 
narratives, even when the facts related de- 
pend on the authority of a single author, 
unsupported by any other testimony or re- 
cord. 

The miracles of the Old Testament, how- 
ever, are not to be placed in the same light 
with heathen prodigies ; and they will never 
be disregarded by Christians, in estimating 
the authority of the Jewish Scriptures.* But 
the argument which I have here maintained 
goes to this point, that, if we were only to 
judge of the Jewish history as we estimate all 
other ancient books, the evidence by which 
it is supported would far outweigh, even in 



* See Note E. 



OF JUDAlSxM. 



25 



this comparison, whatever can be pleaded for 
any, or for all of them. 

An analysis of the principal parts of the 
Old Testament would render this argu- 
ment more complete, and would suggest a 
much greater variety of authorities. But 
this has been so often given, to the entire 
satisfaction of well-informed men, that more 
than the few specimens which have been 
quoted cannot be necessary to convince us, 
that, if the Jews had sound reasons to re- 
ly on the history of their fathers, and on 
the authority of their religion as invol- 
ved in it, the Christians of the latest age 
are fully warranted to receive it as the 
authentic history of an original revelation, 
and of the ancient church ; and that no 
messenger sent from the dead could possi- 
bly offer them evidence, either satisfactory 
or unsuspected, or which could, in any cir- 
cumstances, bear to be compared with the 
evidence which they already possess. 

The internal evidence of Judaism must 
add greatly to the force of this representa- 
tion. And therefore, I observe, 

II. That the scriptures of the Old Testa- 



THE AUTHORITY 



ment contain doctrines of pure Theism and 
sound morality, to which nothing in the an- 
nals of any other ancient nation can, with the 
least appearance of reason, be compared. 

It is sufficiently clear from the history of 
Judaism, that the leading reason for the se- 
paration of the Jews from other nations, was 
to preserve, among one people, the know- 
ledge and worship of the true God, pure 
from the mixture of every heathen idolatry, 
till the time fixed by the wisdom of Provi- 
dence, for a more perfect revelation to be 
made to the world at large. 

Abraham was first selected to become the 
depositary of the genuine doctrines of reli- 
gion ; and, that he might transmit them en- 
tire to his descendants, he was commanded 
to abandon the land of his nativity, and ul- 
timately to fix his residence in Palestine ; the 
country which was at last to be assigned to 
his posterity. 

Many circumstances in the Mosaic his- 
tory of Abraham are to be found in the tra- 
ditions of the east ; greatly disfigured, in- 
deed, by the intermixture of fabulous rela- 
tions, but sufficiently precise to demonstrate 
their origin. Though, for example, few of 



OF JUDAISM. 



27 



the ancient names of places are preserved, 
we still find the same situation assigned to 
the ancient Babel ; and the name of Har- 
ran in Mesopotamia, where Abraham first 
resided after he left Urr of the Chaldees,and 
where Terah his father died, is mentioned by 
modern travellers, as still subsisting, and in 
common use. * 

The Patriarchs, descending from Abra- 
ham, transmitted to their families the know- 
ledge of the true God, as opposed to every 
form of idolatry : And the patriarchal revela- 
tions preserved the pure doctrines of Theism 
among their descendants, till they were ulti- 
mately incorporated with the permanent in- 
stitutions of Moses. 

From the time of Moses, the substance of 
the moral and religious obligations, founded 
on the knowledge of the true God, was embo- 
died with the written law, moral, ceremonial, 
and political, by which the Jews were dis- 
tinguished from every nation of the earth. 
For four hundred years their civil govern- 
ment was a theocracy, of which the God of 
Abraham declared himself the head and con- 

* Asiatic Researches, Vol. III. p. 486. 



9$ 



THE AUTHORITY 



ductor ; which was administered by a suc- 
cession of leaders and judges, under the di- 
rect influence of his visible and miraculous 
Providence. 

After this period, when they were permit- 
ted to have kings, the purity of their faith 
was not only secured by the written oracles 
of God entrusted to them, but by a succes- 
sion of inspired prophets, whom God raised 
up to warn and instruct them from age to 
age, till the time approached for a more per- 
fect revelation. 

No Jew could contemplate the institutions 
of his own country, but in connection with 
the enlightened doctrines of religion and mo- 
rality with which they were incorporated ; 
doctrines, which gave a pre-eminence to the 
faith of a Jew, far above the best attain- 
ments of heathen antiquity. 

The Theism of the Old Testament, as well 
as the morality founded on it, was simple, 
pure, and enlightened ; consistent with it- 
self, and unmixed with any species of super- 
stition ;* suited to the condition of human 
beings, and calculated to promote their ge« 



* See Note F. 



OF JUDAISM. 



29 



neral happiness ; enjoining no unnatural or 
unnecessary austerities ; but giving no in- 
dulgence to the vices which sap the founda- 
tions of moral duties, or pollute the sources 
of personal or domestic virtues ; and (what 
was of first importance to secure its efficacy) 
sanctioned by the direct authority, and by 
the written law of the God of Israel. 

The best views of religion and morals 
among the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the 
Greeks, or the Romans, are completely ob- 
scured and lost in their abject and degrading 
superstitions ; which, instead of ameliorating 
the characters of the people, were universal- 
ly calculated to aggravate their debasement ; 
which were never opposed, but were often 
subservient, to the most pernicious vices; 
and which, corrupt and mischievous as they 
now appear, were adopted and supported by 
the wisest of the heathen moralists, in the 
midst of their most successful speculations. 

Is it possible that any sound understand- 
ing can seriously compare the Jewish doc- 
trines of religion, with the absurd and de- 
basing histories of heathen gods and god- 
desses, and the wretched superstitions which 
were built on them ; or the pure morality of 



30 



THE AUTHORITY 



the Old Testament, with the detestable us- 
ages, not only permitted by the laws of every 
heathen people, but even incorporated with 
their temples of religion ? 

The ancient philosophers were certainly 
successful in delineating the most important 
views of morality ; and their moral specu- 
lations are still read with advantage and de- 
light, by the most enlightened men of the 
Christian world. But though they had been 
much more complete, and though we were 
to allow them an authority which they 
did not possess, the systematic exclusion 
of the great body of the people from all 
the means of knowledge and of moral in- 
struction, must have for ever disappointed 
them of the practical effects of tneir most 
enlightened doctrines ; while it is an incon- 
testible fact, on the other side, that the most 
profligate superstitions were, at all times, in 
practice among the wise as well as the vul- 
gar. They whose understandings rai;-ed 
them highest above the multitude, held the 
truth in unrighteousness. — i6 Professing to 
know God, in their woiks they denied him." 
The influence which they derived, either 
from their rank, or from their intellectual 

3 



OF JUDAISM. 



31 



endowments, was universally employed to 
rivet on the minds of the people the awe of 
the most abject superstitions, and to render 
their ignorance and delusions perpetual. 

The doctrines of the eastern nations, to 
which, perhaps, no inconsiderable portion 
of the knowledge of the western world 
might be ultimately traced, will not lead us 
to a different conclusion. 

The religion of the ancient Persians is said 
to have been originally founded on their be- 
lief in one supreme God, who made and go- 
verns the world.* But a devotion founded 
on a principle so pure as this, if it survived 
the first ages after the flood, which cannot 
be proved, is known with certainty to have 
been early exchanged for the Sabian idolatry ; 
the blind and superstitious worship of the 
host of heaven, of the sun, the planets, and 
the fire.f 

The religion of the Hindus is in like 
manner affirmed to have originally recognized 
but one supreme God. £ But whatever may 
be found in the Vedas implying the unity of 
God, is completely disfigured and lost in the 



* Asiat. Researches, Vol, II. p. 58 
J See Note G. 



f Ibid. Vol. II. 



52 



THE AUTHORITY 



multitude of deities or idols associated with 
him ; and in the endless superstitions in- 
to which the Hindu worship degenerated, 
from the earliest periods of authentic his- 
tory.* 

There are Eastern maxims of morality 
which are not, perhaps, inferior to the purest 
doctrines of the Greeks and Romans ; and it 
will not be denied by those who have ex- 
amined them, that they have many points of 
resemblance even to Christian morality, f 
But the Hindus not only present to us all 
the inherent defects of the morality of the 
Western heathens, but they avowedly incor- 
porate with the obligations of duty the most 
abject and criminal usages of superstition ; — 
the authorized sacrifice of myriads of human 
beings to the most savage fanaticism ; — and 
all the malignant institutions created to en- 
able the superior and privileged orders to 
keep the people in perpetual ignorance and 
slavery ; to exclude them for ever from the 
comforts, the duties, and even the society 
of their fellows. 

* Asiat. Researches, Vol. VIII. p. 297, 298. Colebrook's 
Dissertation on the Vedas. 

+ Asiatic Researches. Vol. IV. p. 166, 167. See Sir W. 
Jones's Discourse on the Philosophy of the Asiatics. 



OF JUDAISM. 



33 



To these facts we must of necessity add, 
the total want of authority common to all 
the heathen nations, either to enforce what 
is pure in their morality, or to emancipate 
the people from the most inveterate and 
detestable usages. 

The conclusion, from these circumstances 
combined, is irresistible. It is impossible to 
find, either among ancient or modern hea- 
thens, a single example of religion or mo- 
rality, which, in purity, in practical effect, 
in general adaptation to the conditions of 
the people, or in authority sufficient to reach 
or to bind the consciences of men, will 
bear to be compared with the faith or the 
morality of Judaism.* 

It must, no doubt, be admitted, that, with 
all the advantages which the Jews possessed, 
their personal conduct was, in many points, 
far from being equal to their faith ; and 
that, like many other corrupt interpreters, 
they often made void the law of God, by 
their explanations and traditions. 

But, on the other hand, it cannot be de- 
nied, that the possession of their ancient 



* See Note H. 

• : v C - , 



34 



THE AUTHORITY 



scriptures, guarded from age to age with the 
most scrupulous fidelity, — the continued ob- 
servation of the Mosaical rites, — the acknow- 
ledged authority of their written law, — and 
the visible demonstrations of the perpetual 
providence of the God of Israel, inscribed on 
every part of their religious economy, as well 
as on the aspect and history of their coun- 
try, — preserved among them the faith of the 
true God, the sound principles of religious 
worship, the great rules of moral obligation, 
and the peculiar sanction or authority by 
which their law was enforced, from the time 
of their original separation from other na- 
tions, till the day-spring from on high was 
approaching, which was to give light and 
salvation to the ends of the earth. 

Amidst all the national and individual de- 
fects of the Jews, the purity of their ritual, 
and of their written law, was still entire; and, 
in the most important articles of morals, 
gave a certain and visible pre-eminence to 
the character of the people, which no sound 
information of the stare of ancient nations 
will permit us to deny them. Their manners 
did not always correspond to their law; but 
the gross vices of the nations were not to be 



OF JUDAISM. 



35 



found in Judea. And even when the Jews 
were at last carried into captivity, the authori- 
ty of their law gave them a character in the 
country of their bondage, of which neither 
oppression nor slavery could deprive them-. 
Wherever they were found among the hea- 
thens, they were always described as a singu- 
lar people, who rejected the manners and the 
idolatries of those among whom they lived, 
and who rigidly adhered to the usages and 
the religion of Judea. 

After their restoration from Babylon, the 
practical effects of their peculiar law were 
supported, to the latest periods of their com- 
monwealth, by a purity of doctrine and 
worship, utterly unknown to every other 
people. Though our Saviour found much to 
condemn, in their perversion of particular 
precepts; in their substitution of external 
observances for genuine religion; and in 
their systematic rejection of doctrines, which 
clearly belonged to their peculiar revelation ; 
their rivetted persuasion of the authority of 
the Mosaic institutions, and their firm ex- 
pectations of a Messiah to come, were to 
the end effectual, to preserve them from in- 
termixture, with the nations around them, 



36 



THE AUTHORITY 



and from the great vices of the heathen 
world. The apostle was therefore well en- 
titled, from experience, as well as from au- 
thority, to solve the question as he did, con- 
cerning the singular advantages of Judaism. 
** What advantage," he said, " has the Jew ? 
or what profit is there in circumcision ? 
much every way ; chiefly because to them 
were committed the oracles of God." 

The religion of Judea, transmitted from the 
earliest, and preserved to the latest times, — 
almost entirely confined to a single people, — 
not only unlike to every superstition exist- 
ing, but containing the only religious doc- 
trine in the ancient world which will bear 
to be examined by the human understand- 
ing, — supported, for a succession of ages, by 
the exclusive principle, which debarred the 
Jews from all intermixture with other na- 
tions ; and claiming, from its commence- 
ment to its latest period, the sanction of a po- 
sitive revelation,— carries, in its first aspect, 
a pledge of its authority, to which there is 
nothing similar or analogous, in the history 
of all, or of any of the ancient nations. 

If it be a fact, that there existed for ages in 
Judea a written law, containing the Theism 



OF JUDAISM. 



37 



and morality which we find in the scriptures 
of the Old Testament ; while every people, 
except the Jews, enlightened or barbarous in 
other respects, sat in the darkness of hea- 
then idolatry, and in the region or shadow 
of death ; this fact alone must be admitted 
to have given a sanction to the Jewish dis- 
pensation, irresistible among the Jews them- 
selves ; and not to have been easily contro- 
verted by the most enlightened heathens, if 
it had ever been well understood or dispas- 
sionately examined. 

Another fact, equally certain, bears direct- 
ly on the same point. Though the chief in^ 
tention of the Jewish ritual is to be found 
in its subserviency to the Christian dispen- 
sation, every provision which it contained 
was strictly moral ; or had an immediate and 
moral design among the Jews themselves, 
distinct from its ultimate object. It was 
uniformly calculated to support the efficacy 
of the moral law, and the authority which 
enforced it ; by the awe of religion which 
it employed to rebuke and to control the 
vices of the people ; by the provisions which 
it contained for the comfort of the penitent, 
and the restoration of the guilty ; and by the 



38 



THE AUTHORITY 



perpetual reference of all its ceremonial and 
sacrificial institutions, to the purity, the so- 
vereignty, and the mercy of God. 

No well-informed man can deny, that this 
general character belongs to the ritual of 
Moses. And if we shall coolly compare it 
with any view which can be taken of the im- 
moral superstitions of contemporary nations, 
we shall scarcely find it possible to evade the 
conclusion, — that it had a purity, and an 
efficacy, peculiar to itself, to which there 
was nothing analogous in the ancient world. 

Supposing this representation to be cor- 
rect ; that there existed in one narrow dis- 
trict of Palestine, a written doctrine of reli- 
gion and morality, equally pure and enlight- 
ened ; * supported by a ritual and moral in- 
stitutions, which had been in constant use 
from the earliest ages ; and distinguishing 
a single people from all other nations, 
who were universally sunk in the gloom 
and vices of idolatry : And supposing any 
individual among this people, to have re- 
jected the conclusion which he ought to 
iiave deduced from these facts ; viz. That a 



* See Note L 



OF JUDAISM. 



39 



doctrine so peculiar and so intrinsical- 
ly pure, had the authority of a revelation 
from Heavpn ; — let us put the question to 
our own minds, whether such an individual 
would have had better reasons to believe, if 
one had been sent from the dead to convince 
him ? or, whether the testimony of a mes- 
senger from the dead, if it had been possi- 
ble to have obtained it, would have added 
any thing to the evidence of which he was 
before in possession ? 

Would one sent from the dead, supposing 
the event to have happened, have been 
able to tell him more than he already knew, 
of the pre-eminence of the Jewish faith 
over the superstitions of Paganism? In 
representing to him the ignorance and de- 
lusion of the wisest heathens, on the sub- 
ject of religion, could more information 
have been given him, than was already with- 
in his reach, to shew that the Jewish doc- 
trine had not been the invention of philoso- 
phy ? Or, would one, said to have risen from 
the dead, whose sources of information were 
unknown, and whose very appearance re- 
quired a miracle to prove its reality, have 
been entitled to more credit 5 in asserting the 



40 



THE AUTHORITY 



fact, that the Jewish law had the authority 
of a divine revelation, than was due to what 
he certainly knew before, that it was a law 
transmitted to the Jewish people, attested by 
the written records, the usages, the events, 
and the miracles of ages ? 

If these circumstances have been fairly 
stated, we must be satisfied, that, if the 
books of the Old Testament are to be re- 
ceived as authentic history, — and if the pre- 
eminence of the Theism and morality which 
they contain be such as no other people 
before the Christian asra ever possessed, since 
the ages of primitive revelation, — we can 
scarcely hesitate in believing, that the evi- 
dence which the Jews possessed for their pe- 
culiar revelation, nothing could have justi- 
fied them in rejecting ; that the most queru- 
lous infidelity could not have been entitled 
to reject the conclusion resulting from it, 
while the leading facts were admitted in 
which it is involved ; and that no testimony 
from the grave could have added any thing 
to the information which distinguished, or 
to the authority which supported the Jewish 
dispensation, from its commencement to its 
close. 



OF JUDAISM. 



41 



Are we not entitled to go a step farther, 
and to assume, that if the evidence of Ju- 
daism should have been completely satisfac- 
tory to the Jews, it ought to be equally con- 
vincing to ourselves., as long as we admit 
that the Jewish Scriptures contain authentic 
history ; and that the Theism and the morality 
of Judea truly possess the pre-eminence which 
they claim ? We cannot question either the 
narratives, or the substance of the Old Tes- 
tament, without contradicting the most esta- 
blished principles of reasonable belief ; nor 
without rejecting the unqualified testimony 
given to their authority, by the writers of 
the New Testament : And we cannot receive 
the Jewish books as authentic Scriptures, 
without believing, that it is the same God 
who spake to the fathers by the prophets, 
who has in these last days spoken to us by 
his Son. 

I am aware that there is a branch of this 
argument which I have not yet considered. 

The character of the Old Testament, as a 
dispensation of authoritative religion, is not 
to be separated from the doctrines which re- 
late to the immortality of man, and to a state 
of retribution after death. 



42 THE AUTHORITY OF JUDAISM. 



It still remains therefore to be shewn, that 
these Goctrines formed such an essential and 
peculiar distinction ot the Jewish faith, as 
serves both to give weight and consistency 
to the evidence by which it is supported. 



DISCOURSE IL 



ON THE DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY REVEAL- 
ED TO THE JEWS. 



Luke xvi. 31. 

* If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, 
neither will they be persuaded, though one 
rose from the dead" 

It is scarcely possible to separate in our 
thoughts the substance of genuine religion, 
or the authority with which it is promulgat- 
ed, from the doctrines which relate to the 
immortality of man, and a state of future 
retribution. 

After having illustrated the pre-eminence 
of Judaism, as a revelation from God, and 
as containing doctrines of pure Theism and 



IMMORTALITY 



morality, to which nothing analogous is 
found, either among ancient or modern hea- 
thens ; if we had no prejudices to combat, it 
would be unnecessary to add any thing to 
this argument, in proof of a future state of 
rewards and punishments, as an essential 
and original article of the Jewish faith. We 
would naturally conclude, that a divine reve- 
lation, made to the Jews, must contain, not 
only the principles of duty, suited to the pre- 
sent condition of human beings, but the doc- 
trines of eternal life, which connect their 
present conduct with their ultimate destina- 
tion. 

As the appointed preparation of the gos- 
pel, which, as Christians, we believe it to have 
been, we would, by natural consequence, 
expect to find the doctrines of immortality 
incorporated with its substance, from its 
commencement to its close. 

If this conclusion be narrowly examined, I 
am persuaded it will at last be found to be 
the truth. But we must be aware that there 
are difficulties attending it, arising from cir- 
cumstances, in which not only querulous 
reasoners find arguments against it, and su- 
perficial thinkers difficulties which they set 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



46 



down as insurmountable ; but in which men 
of superior information and sagacity, un- 
friendly neither to Judaism nor Christianity, 
have professed to find reasons for rejecting 
it, as unfounded and untenable. 

Unbelievers, who attempt to wound Christ- 
ianity by malignant strictures upon Ju- 
daism, from the peculiar character of a reve- 
lation, which, being no more than the prepa- 
ration for a more enlightened system, u the 
shadow of good things to come — which could 
not make the comers thereunto perfect" — 
affect to represent the doctrines of immorta- 
lity, as excluded from the instruction con- 
tained in the Old Testament, and as entirely 
unknown to the Jews. 

On the other hand, one of the most 
learned defenders both of Judaism and Christ- 
ianity, has, from very different motives, but 
with equal zeal, asserted, that the Jewish 
Scriptures contain no revelation of a state of 
future existence and retribution ; and has 
even attempted to found on this singular po- 
sition, what he represents as an irresistible 
argument for the divine authority of the 
Jewish faith.* 



* See Note K, 



46 



IMMORTALITY 



Every well-informed man is aware, that arf> 
ful sophistry, on the one side, and profound 
learning on the other, may not only some- 
times make the worse appear the better reason, 
and give a plausibility to opinions, the most 
remote from common apprehensions ; but 
that they have been often found united, in at- 
tempting to establish the same conclusions; 
though deducing them from premises ex- 
tremely different, and adopting them with the 
most opposite views and intentions. 

There are circumstances besides, which, 
unless they are dispassionately examined and 
discriminated, may be employed, in a contro- 
versy on this subject, to mislead the sound- 
est understanding. 

The doctrines of immortality are so much 
more clearly unfolded by Christianity, than 
they ever were before its promulgation, that 
life and immortality are, for that reason, said 
to have been " brought to light by the gospel." 
And when we consider how much more 
than was known to the Jewish church is re- 
vealed in the New Testament, we are not 
only in danger of forgetting what was cer- 
tainly believed before, but we are apt to be- 
come fastidious, and even sceptical, in our 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



47 



interpretations of the ancient, more obscure, 
and imperfect revelation. 

What is of still greater importance, the 
Jewish laws were not merely laws of reli- 
gion, but they were also the laws of a civil 
government, of which God had declared 
himself the head and sovereign. Because 
they were the laws of the state, there were 
temporal rewards and punishments annexed 
to the observation and the breach of them. 
In this point of view, they were " laws of 
a carnal commandment," which had always 
a direct and immediate reference to the pre- 
sent world : And, in attending to this aspect 
of them, we are in danger of forgetting, that 
they were also the laws of religion, and that, 
in this character, they had an inseparable re- 
lation to religious obligations, and to purity 
of mind. But, in connecting the civil consti- 
tution with the theocracy of the Jews, we 
ought never to lose sight of the fact, that the 
practical religion of the Old Testament, 
though built on a system, which was but 
partially- and gradually unfolded, did, at all 
periods, involve, in its substance and design, 
the last consequences, as well as the present 
effects, of human conduct. 



48 



IMMORTALITY 



I shall, therefore, in this discourse, con- 
siders?^, how far the doctrines of immor- 
tality are to be found in the scriptures of 
the Old Testament, or give weight to the 
evidence of the ancient dispensation. I shall 
then consider how far they ought to be re- 
garded as an original, or as a peculiar dis- 
tinction of the Jewish faith ; and shall after- 
wards suggest the conclusions to which these 
views of the subject should direct us. 

I. The text has suggested this subject : 
For it evidently proceeds on the supposition, 
that the certainty of a state of future retri- 
bution had been disbelieved by the rich 
man in the parable during his life ; and that 
it was, notwithstanding, affirmed by Abra- 
ham, to have been clearly laid down in the 
doctrine of Moses and the prophets. The 
rich man does not discover this fatal error of 
his life, till he lifts up his eyes in hell ; and 
then he trembles for his brethren, whom he 
had left in the world, because he knew them 
to disbelieve the reality of the retribution 
which he was enduring ; lest their unbelief 
and impenitence should bring them also at 
last into the place of torment. He therefore 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



49 



earnestly prays, that a messenger from the 
dead might be sent to persuade them of what, 
he was convinced from his former experi- 
ence, they would not otherwise believe. 

In the answer which he receives, it is af- 
firmed, on the one hand, that they had al- 
ready sufficient evidence in the writings of 
Moses and the prophets, to demonstrate the 
truth of the doctrine of immortality, and the 
certainty of future retribution ; and, on the 
other hand, that the information they could 
have received by a messenger from the dead, 
would not have given them a stronger con- 
viction of those realities, than they ought 
to have derived from those unquestionable 
sources of knowledge, of which they were al- 
ready in possession. 

It is scarcely possible to read the nar- 
rative which introduces the text, if we have 
no hypothesis to mislead us, without be- 
lieving, that, at least in the structure of 
the parable, it was our Lord's intention 
to represent the certainty of future retri- 
bution as the doctrine of the Old Testa- 
ment, from its commencement to its close ; 
not merely as the doctrine of the prophets, or 
of the later writers under the Jewish dispen- 

D 



5b 



IMMORTALITY 



sation, but as the original doctrine of Moses ; 
and to affirm that, as an efficient and practi- 
cal doctrine, no messenger from the dead 
could have conveyed it with more authority, 
than it had already received from the ancient 
scriptures. 

This reference to Moses, for the doctrine 
of a future state, is by no means a singular 
example. The defence made by the Apostle 
Paul before King Agrippa, concludes by 
these remarkable words : u Having therefore 
obtained help of God, I continue unto this 
day, witnessing both to small and great, say- 
ing none other things than those which the 
prophets and Moses did say should come ; 
that Christ should suffer, and that he should 
be the first which should rise from the 
dead When this assertion is connected 
with the doctrine which the apostle employs 
it to defend, it represents both the prophets 
and Moses to have said, not only that Christ 
should rise from the dead, but that, being the 
first who should rise, he should become the 
first fruits of them that sleep ; nothing less 
being implied in the apostle's statement, 

* Acts xxvi. 22, 2?, 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



51 



than that the writers of the Old Testament 
had affirmed beforehand the same thing of 
the predicted resurrection of Christ, which he 
taught after the event had happened, — that it 
was a pledge of the certainty, both of a fu- 
ture state, and of a general resurrection. 

The apostle had also a striking authority 
for the argument which he addressed to A- 
grippa. For when our Lord himself, after he 
had risen from the dead, explained to two of 
his doubting disciples, the necessity of his 
death, the reality of his resurrection, and his 
consequent exaltation to the right hand of 
God, he also referred them, on all these 
points, which, in their very substance, in- 
volved the certainty of the invisible and 
eternal world, to the information which 
they ought to have derived from Moses and 
the prophets. " O fools, he said, and slow 
of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suf- 
fered these things, and to enter into his 
glory ? And beginning at Moses, and all the 
prophets, he expounded to them, in all the 
Scriptures, the things concerning himself." * 

It certainly requires no common degree, 



* Luke xxiv. 26, 27, 28, 



52 



IMMORTALITY 



either of prejudice or of paradoxical intrepi- 
dity, in those who profess to believe the gos- 
pel, to affirm, in opposition to these positive 
declarations of Christ and his apostle, that 
Moses and the prophets have said nothing 
intelligible, either directly or consequential- 
ly, on the certainty of a future state. 

On the other hand, we ought to consider 
deliberately what the writings of Moses and 
the prophets do in fact contain, on a subject 
on which their authority is so distinctly ap- 
pealed to. 

There would be no foundation for this in- 
quiry, if it were not admitted, that the design 
of the ancient revelation of necessity required, 
that it should on many points preserve a de- 
gree of obscurity, which does not belong to 
the Christian dispensation. It is almost im- 
possible to read the Old Testament without 
observing the figurative and typical form giv- 
en to the peculiar institutions of the Jews, and 
frequently to the historical details connected 
with them ; the double sense often affixed to 
its prophetical disclosures ; ascertaining, but 
without anticipating, remote events ; clear, 
when verified at last, but, according to the 
nature of the things represented, more or 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS-' 53 

less obscure, while the events are remote ; 
not so well understood beforehand, as to in- 
terfere with the free agency of human beings, 
but sufficiently intelligible, both to answer 
the immediate purposes of practical religion, 
and the ultimate ends of a revelation, design- 
ed to prepare for a more perfect system. 

The very nature of the ancient dispen- 
sation supposes, that what it contains of 
the evangelical doctrines which were at last 
to be unfolded by Christ, is very commonly 
conveyed by sensible figures and typical re- 
presentations, or by means of historical 
facts, which have a double application ; — to 
the individuals of whom they are immedi- 
ately related, or to far more important per- 
sonages in the ages of the gospel. 

This character of the ancient dispensation 
is itself represented by a figure, which the 
New Testament has explained and applied, in 
the most unequivocal language. 

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, 
he covered his face with a veil. The immedi- 
ate reason for which this was done was, that 
the people were unable to look directly on his 
countenance, while it was illuminated by the 
reflected glory which he had seen on the 



54 



IMMORTALITY 



mount. Butthe apostlePaul tellsus, that there 
was a secondary, and a more important signi- 
fication of this action. " Moses put a veil on 
his face, he says, that (or on account of which) 
the children of Israel could not steadfastly 
look to the end of that which is abolished." 
He suppresses entirely, as being no longer of 
any importance, the first or immediate occa- 
sion of the veil, — that the people were una- 
ble to look on the reflected traces of the glory 
seen on the mount; and he represents the veil 
on the face of Moses in no other light than 
as a typical emblem, on the one hand, of the 
intentional obscurity of the revelation given 
to him ; and on the other, of the incapacity 
of the people to look steadfastly to the ulti- 
mate end or design of a dispensation, which 
was at last to be abolished, through any other 
medium than the veil, or the emblematical 
figures under which Moses had established 
it. He adds* that the minds of the Jews of 
every succeeding age were blinded ; and that; 
down to the time when the apostle wrote, they 
had the same veil before their eyes* in read- 
ing the Scriptures of the Old Testament. 
<s Even to this day, when Moses is read, the 
yeil is upon their hearts ; nevertheless, when 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



65 



it shall turn to the Lord, (or, when they shall 
be effectually convinced of the ultimate de- 
sign of their original dispensation, and of its 
efficacy as the preparation for the gospel) the 
veil shall be taken away." 

If any thing were necessary to demon- 
strate that this is the apostle's meaning, we 
find it distinctly involved in the character he 
subjoins of the Christian revelation. This 
he represents as a dispensation, not of types 
or allegories, of which the application was 
at all times difficult and intricate, but of 
clear and practical truths, level to the capa- 
cities, and suited to the condition of every 
nation, and of every order of the people. 
" We all, with open face, beholding as in a 
glass the glory of j*he Lord, are changed into 
the same image, from glory to glory, even as 
by the spirit of the Lord." * 

The veil was necessary, as long as it was 
employed ; and the more attentively we ex- 
amine the subject, we shall be the more con- 
vinced, that the typical form of instruction 
adopted under the Old Testament, was not 
selected without a sufficient reason. When 



* 2 Cor. in. 13—18. 



56 



IMMORTALITY 



all the other nations of the world were sunk 
in the gross and varied pollutions of igno- 
rance and idolatry, the doctrines of Judaism, 
confined to a small district, and to a single 
people, were not only saved from oblivion, 
but were preserved from corruption, with 
much more certainty and effect, by figi>- 
rative representations and typical institu- 
tions, consecrated by authoritative law and 
usage, than they could possibly have been, 
in that state of the world, if they had been 
plainly taught without a figure, like the re- 
ligious and moral doctrines of Christianity. 

No single people could have preserved the 
simple doctrines of a spiritual religion, with- 
out- a veil, for so many ages as are compre- 
hended in the history of the Jewish com- 
monwealth, amidst the inveterate polytheism 
and multiplied idolatries of every nation a- 
round them. But typical and figurative or- 
dinances, incorporated with their civil con- 
stitution, and a regular succession of pro- 
phetical revelations (of which no small pro- 
portion immediately related to events in their 
national history, while they ultimately re- 
presented the substance of a more perfect 
dispensation of religion to come), were, from 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



51 



their very nature, certain and perpetual mo- 
numents, which, as long as their civil con- 
stitution existed, could neither have been 
lost by the ignorance or degradation of the 
people, nor consigned to oblivion by the most 
unprincipled perversion. 

It ought not to be forgotten, at the same 
time, that when either the types or predic- 
tions of the Old Testament are intended to 
incorporate an ultimate with a subordinate 
design, they will never be found to apply 
to more than two distinct or different sub- 
jects, — the one immediate or temporal, the 
other more important and remote. The sup- 
position that they were intended to relate 
to many different subjects at the same time, 
would render every doctrine founded on them 
both uncertain and arbitrary ; while the 
scriptural application of them, restricted to 
the double sense, and never in a single in- 
stance extended beyond it, presents us with 
the idea of a uniform and consistent plan, 
suited to the condition of the world, and gra- 
dually matured and perfected, from the ear- 
liest to the latest ages.* 



* See Note L. 



IMMORTALITY 



The information given to the ancient be- 
lievers of the doctrine of immortality, though 
they had occasionally plainer intimations on 
the subject, superadded to their typical in- 
stitutions, was certainly, in its best form, de- 
fective and obscure. But it was suited to 
the dispensation under which they lived, and 
was sufficiently understood to answer the 
purposes of practical religion. 

It is admitted by those who have most 
zealously contended for the exclusion of the 
doctrine of a future state from the Mosaic 
dispensation, that the doctrine was known to 
the patriarchs and prophets, and that they re- 
ceived it from a divine revelation, though it is, 
at the same time, gratuitously asserted, that 
it was kept concealed from the body of the 
Jewish people. * It is also admitted, that we 
lost, by Adam's transgression, the inheritance 
of immortality, f 

Shall we then conceive, that the sacrifice 
of Cain and Abel, the first on record, follow- 
ing, as all believers allow, on a divine insti- 
tution, had no relation to the great expiation, 
which was at last to restore the fallen race 



* See Note M. 



+ See Note N. 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



59 



to the immortality they had lost ; or that 
Moses did not intend, by his record of the 
first sacrifice, to transmit an original monu- 
ment of the appointed means of their resto- 
ration ? The first sacrifice, on the part of A- 
bel, was a sacrifice of blood, and therefore 
a sacrifice for sin ; and shall we believe, that, 
in that early age of the world, it had no re- 
lation to the solemn declaration, so recently 
announced, " that the seed of the woman 
would bruise the head of the serpent ?" 

We have next the translation of Enoch, 
related in the fewest possible words. " Enoch 
walked with God, and he was not, for God 
took him." An apostle tells us, that " he 
was translated, that he should not see death ; 
for that, before his translation, he had this tes- 
timony, that he pleased God." The idea of 
a translation is sufficiently explained, by the 
later history of Elijah the prophet, who was 
visibly carried up into Heaven in a chariot 
of fire, without tasting death : And it is im- 
possible to contemplate the account given of 
the translation of Enoch! as an authentic nar- 
rative, without being persuaded, not only that 
it implies the absolute certainty of the invi- 
sible world, but that Moses believed and 



60 



IMMORTALITY 



knew that immortality was conferred on 
Enoch, without the intervention of death. # 

The history of Abraham furnishes a most 
distinguished example. 

Abraham is the person in the invisible 
world, who is brought forward in the para- 
ble from which the text is taken, to reply to 
the rich man in the place of torment, on the 
subject of future retribution ; and he is pro- 
bably selected, not only as the most illus- 
trious and most respected ancestor of the 
Jews, but as the person to whom they were 
prepared to ascribe the most perfect know- 
ledge of their faith and hopes. 

When they resisted our Lord's pretensions 
by the question, c< Art thou greater than our 
father Abraham ?" he replied, by quoting 
Abraham as the individual of the patriarchal 
ages who entered with most peculiar ear- 
nestness and discernment into the predicted 
design of his mission for the salvation of the 
world. " Your father Abraham rejoiced to 
see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." j* 

To discover an intelligible source of the 
joy ascribed to Abraham, from the events 



* Sec Note O, 



if St John, Tiii. 56. 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



61 



which he anticipated, we must suppose, that 
he saw beforehand, not only the mission of 
the promised Messiah, who was to spring 
from his family, but, in his mission, the ef- 
fectual redemption of the human race from 
the dominion of death. 

There are two great occasions specified in 
his history, on which we may suppose him 
to have received this revelation. The first 
occurred, when the promise was made to 
him, " that in his seed all the families of the 
earth should be blessed ;" — a promise, of 
which an apostle gives the substance, in the 
following terms : " The Scripture, foreseeing 
that God would justify the heathen through 
faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham, 
saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed." * 
If the justification of the heathen, through 
faith,was involved in this promise, and was in 
any degree understood by him who received 
the promise, the revelation was also then made 
of their redemption from sin and death, by 
the promised Messiah, who was to bring 
life and immortality to light. Abraham then 
saw before him, the blessing of many na- 



* Galat. iii, 8. 



IMMORTALITY 



tions, which the promise predicted, by the 
sufferings of Christ, who was to be the first 
who should rise from the dead : And this it 
was, which " Moses," by recording this pro- 
mise, " did say should come." 

There is another most remarkable occasion, 
on which the same revelation was made to 
Abraham, not by direct information, or by a 
positive promise, but by a significant action, 
representing the events to which his faith 
was directed. The gospel was preached to 
his heart, by the command which he received, 
to offer Isaac in sacrifice, — his only son,— the 
son who had been brought into the world, 
in consequence of the promise of God, con- 
trary to the order of nature. It was preach- 
ed to him, by the unreserved and unhesitat- 
ing obedience which he felt himself able to 
give to this unexampled command ; by the 
cheerful acquiescence of his son in the great- 
est possible act of obedience to his father's 
will ; by the mount selected for the sacri- 
fice — Mount Moriah — where the Jewish tem- 
ple was at last to be built, and where the ty- 
pical sacrifices were to be offered for ages. 
Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
to him for righteousness. He was strong in 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



63 



faith, giving glory to God ; for he believed, 
that, from the posterity of Isaac, tf all the fa- 
milies of the earth were to be blessed," even 
while he prepared to offer Isaac in sacrifice. 
And the New Testament has clearly explain- 
ed the principle on which he proceeded; " that 
he was persuaded that God was able to raise 
up his son, even from the dead adding, 
that " from the dead he did receive him in a 
figure,"* when his hand was withheld from 
making him the sacrifice, and another vic- 
tim was prepared. 

It is impossible to read the circumstances 
which are here combined, and connect them 
with the faith ascribed to Abraham by the 
writers of the New Testament, without be- 
ing persuaded, that they were intended to re- 
present, by most significant actions and fi- 
gures, God giving up his Son to death for 
us all — his only begotten Son— his Son 
brought into the world against the course of 
nature, by the power of the Holy Ghost— 
his Son laying down his life of himself, by 
his father's command — his Son raised from 
the dead by the power of God — his well-be- 



* Heb. xi. 19. 



64 



IMMORTALITY 



loved Son, destined to become the glorious 
pledge to the human race, of immortality re* 
stored, and of salvation completed. 

If this was the faith of Abraham, (and I 
am. not sensible that a single circumstance 
has been exaggerated) then did he foresee 
the immortality to be brought to light in the 
Messiah's day, and understood the scene 
which was presented to his view, as both 
Christ and his apostles affirm. On ano- 
ther occasion, the New Testament express- 
ly says of him, that " he is the father of 
us all, before him who quickeneth the dead, 
and calleth the things which be not, as 
though they were adding, that the faith 
imputed to him was written, not for his sake 
alone, but for us also, if we believe on him 
who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 
( the first fruits of them that sleep ) who was 
delivered for our offences, and was raised 
again for our justification. 

The history of Jacob suggests another ex- 
ample. He saw in a prophetical vision a 
ladder, which reached from earth to Heaven, 
on which the angels of God ascended and 
descended, and saw the Lord standing above 
it ; and heard from him the promise renew- 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS, 



ed to himself which had before been made to 
Abraham, cc that in his seed should all the 
families of the earth be blessed." Jacob 
said then within himself, 61 surely the Lord is 
in this place, and I knew it not. How dread- 
ful is this place ! This is none other than the 
house of God, and this is the gate of hea- 
ven."* 

Can we imagine that this vision conveyed 
to Jacob no idea of the invisible world, or of 
the future existence of men, after we find 
our Lord applying the substance, and even 
the language of this vision to himself? " I 
say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven 
open, and the angels of God ascending and 
descending on the Son of Man j* and when 
we observe Stephen, the first martyr to the 
gospel, using language of similar import, im- 
mediately before he kneeled down and said, 
" Lord Jesus receive my spirit — Ct behold," 
he said, " I see the heavens opened, and the 
Son of Man standing at the right hand of 
God." t 

What ourLord described, and Stephen saw, 

* Gen. xxviii. 12, 7. i St John, i. 51. 

J Acts vii. 55, 56. 

£ 



66 



IMMORTALITY 



is precisely that which Jacob's vision repre- 
sented ; and the idea of the invisible world, 
and of a future existence there, is no more 
to be separated from the language of Jacob, 
than from that which was employed by our 
Lord, and by his martyr Stephen. 

We cannot therefore be surprised, that Ja- 
cob should have interrupted his last charge 
to his family, to express his reliance on sal- 
vation by the promised Messiah, as the faith 
in which he had spent his life, when he said, 
" I have waited for thy salvation O Lord." * 
For though this exclamation is introduced in 
the middle of a subject to which it has no 
immediate relation, considered as a natural 
expression of personal feeling at the moment 
when he was pouring out his last blessings 
on his family, the very brevity and abrupt- 
ness, by which it is distinguished, serve to 
persuade us, that immortality was the sub- 
ject in his mind ; the only subject which 
could have suspended an address to his fa- 
mily, so interesting to himself and to them. 
It was the subject which habit and piety had 
rendered most familiar to his thoughts ; 



* Genesis xlix. 18» 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



67 



which had dwelt on his mind through life ; 
and which was now his last consolation. * 

The sacrifice of Abel — the translation of 
Enoch — the faith «f Abraham — the vision, 
and the last demonstrations of the faith of Ja- 
cob — are but a few examples selected from 
many. But with regard to these individuals, 
it is scarcely possible to assign an intelligi- 
ble reason why we should hesitate to ascribe 
to them the belief of immortality, when we 
find the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews 
saying distinctly of them, and of many 
others, that " they all died in faith, not hav- 
ing received the promises ; but that having 
seen them afar off, they were persuaded of 
them, and embraced them, and confessed that 
they were strangers and pilgrims on earth." f 

It was not merely the land of Canaan 
which they saw afar off, as some ingenious 
speculations affirm, nor did they consider 
themselves as strangers and pilgrims, mere- 
ly from their uncertain habitations before 
they came to the possession of that country. 
These suppositions are completely refuted by 
what the apostle has subjoined. " Now, he 
says, they desire a better country, that is, an 

* See Note P. f Heb. xi. 13. 



68 IMMORTALITY 

heavenly ; wherefore God is not ashamed to 
be called their God, for he hath prepared for 
them a city." * 

It is in immediate connection with this 
assertion, that he introduces the faith of A- 
braham when he offered up Isaac — the faith 
of Isaac when he blessed his sons — the faith 
of Jacob on the bed of death — and above 
all, the faith of Moses, of whom he distinct- 
ly affirms, that when he refused to be called 
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and chose ra- 
ther to suffer affliction with the people of 
God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 
season — he did so, from no weaker or infe- 
rior motive, than 6C because he esteemed the 
reproach of Christ greater riches than the 
treasures of Egypt, and had respect to the re- 
n/ compence of reward." f 

Let it just be recollected, that every one 
of the facts to which these representations 
are applied, stands on the written record of 
Moses ; and that it has been admitted by 
those, who have most strenuously contended 
that the doctrine of immortality makes no 
part of the Mosaic revelation, that Moses and 
the patriarchs were in possession of the doc- 



* Heb. xi. 16. 



f Heb. xi. 24, 25, 26. 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



69. 



trine, and firmly and universally believed 
it. 

The book of Job makes a part of the ca- 
non of the Old Testament. We know not 
the descent of Job ; nor do we know whe- 
ther he belonged to the family of Abraham. 
His country was the land of Uz, which the 
prophet Jeremiah has placed in his list of 
the countries which surrounded Canaan.* 
Without presuming to be dogmatical with 
regard to the age in which he lived, or to 
assert, what might perhaps be established, 
that there is no expression in the book of 
Job which unquesiionably refers to the 
language of Judaism, it is sufficient to ob- 
serve, that, after all the ingenuity employed 
to support the contrary hypothesis, it is at 
least not impossible, that the common may 
be the just opinion, which places Job in an 
age before the time of Moses ; though it 
should not be admitted that we have suffi- 
cient information to pronounce decisively on 
the subject. 

Job had, like Abraham, a divine revelation; 
and if words can express the faith either of 
an immortality or a resurrection, he has dis- 



* Jeremiah xxv. 20. 



70 



IMMORTALITY 



tinctly expressed it, without u fgure y in lan- 
guage which has a much greater affinity to 
Christianity than to Judaism. Alluding to 
the wretched condition of his body, loath- 
some by disease, and consumed by worms, 
he expressed his full persuasion of an immor- 
tality and a resurrection, as the consolation 
which enabled him to sustain his calamity. 
* I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth ; and though after my skin worms de- 
stroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 
God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine 
eyes shall behold, and not another, though 
my reins be consumed within me." * 

Language more precise or definite can 
scarcely be conceived ; and neither a differ- 
ent translation of the original text, nor a dif- 
ferent paraphrase of the words contained in 
it, (though both have been often attempted) 
will ever bring it fairly to apply to any other 
subject than the immortality of man, and 
the resurrection of the dead, f On the con- 
trary, the plain and intelligible language of 

* Job xix. 25, 26, 27. 

t See Sherlock oil the use and Intent of Prophecy, Disserta. 
tion 2d. 

5 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



71 



this text, serves to explain, beyond every 
controversy, the language of other texts 
in the same book, which have been often 
tortured into an assertion of the eternity 
of death. I shall confine myself to one 
example. " As the waters fail from the 
sea," said Job, " and the flood decayeth and 
dryeth up, so man lyeth down and riseth 
not ; till the heavens be no more, they shall 
not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 
O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave ; 
that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy 
wrath be past ; that thou wouldst appoint 
me a set time, and remember me. If a man 
die, shall he live again ? All the days of 
my appointed time will I wait till my change 
(or as it has been rendered, till my renova- 
tion*) come." f If we were to suppose, that 
this language was intended to convey the 
idea that there is to be no existence after 
death, it contains expressions neither easily 
interpreted, nor consistent with each other. 
But if it shall be connected with the passage 
before referred to, and shall be supposed to 
express Job's faith in the general resurrect 

* Miss Smith's Translation, p. 45. 
+ Job xiv. 11, 12, 13, 14. 



72 



IMMORTALITY 



tion, as it is there described, instead of af- 
firming any thing which implies the eter- 
nity of death, it contains a distinct and di- 
rect assertion, that the resurrection in which 
Job believed and trusted, was not to hap- 
pen till that eventful day, when the pillars 
of heaven and earth shall be shaken, and the 
visible creation shall disappear for ever, in 
the last convulsions of external nature. 

When we come to the later periods of the 
Jewish state, it is admitted, that the faith of 
immortality was no longer unknown to the 
Jews ; but began to be gradually more clear- 
ly unfolded, as the asra of Christianity ap- 
proached. *! " My flesh shall rest in hope, 
said Da-vid, for thou wilt not leave my soul 
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy 
one to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me 
the path of life ; in thy presence is fulness 
of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures 
for evermore." j* The New Testament leaves 
us no room to doubt, that this text was ul- 
timately intended to represent the resurrec- 
tion of Christ. But it is equally clear, that 
there was a primary sense in which it had 
been universally understood by the Jews ? 



* See Note Q. 



f PS. XTi. 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 73 

which was neither inconsistent with its ulti- 
mate application, nor with the language or 
character of ancient prophecy. To them it 
must have originally conveyed the idea, both 
of the happy immortality in the presence of 
God, which their devout men firmly expected 
in the invisible world, and of their ultimate 
renovation and resurrection from the dead. 

David delivers the same doctrine, when 
he says, u deliver my soul, O Lord, from 
men of the world, who have their portion in 
this life — as for me I shall behold thy face 
in righteousness — I shall be satisfied, when 
I awake, with thy likeness." * ** Thou wilt 
guide me by thy counsel, and afterwards re- 
ceive me to glory. — My heart and my flesh 
faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, 
and my portion for ever." f 

On the other hand, he represents the fu- 
ture punishment of irreclaimable impeni- 
tence, in terms equally precise and definite, 
when he says, " that the wicked shall be 
turned into hell, and all the nations that 
forget God," J and describes " the pains of 
hell as superadded to the sorrows of death." § 

Single texts might have been tortured to 

* Ps. XYii. f lb. Jxxiii. f lb. ix. § lb. cxvi. 



74 



IMMORTALITY 



bear a different sense ; but the uniformity of 
this language, and the variety of similar ex- 
amples which might be specified, leave us 
no reasonable ground to doubt, that David 
believed both the immortality and the resur- 
rection of man. 

The language of Solomon is equally explicit ; 
and the true sense of the texts which he has 
given us on this subject, is to be ascertained by 
comparing and uniting them. He distinguish- 
es precisely between the soul and the body ; 
and between the spirit of man, immortal and 
accountable, and the short lived existence and 
final extinction of the inferior animals. " All 
are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth 
upward, and the spirit of the beast that 
goeth downward to the earth." * 6C Rejoice, O 
young man, in thy youth, and walk in the 
ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine 
eyes : But know thou, that for all these things 
God will bring thee into judgment, f Hell 
and destruction are before the Lord, how 
much more then the hearts of the children 
of men." J Cfi In the day when the keepers 
of the house shall tremble — when the sound 

* Eccles. ill . 21. + lb. xi. 9. + Prov. xy. 11, 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



75 



of the grinding is low — because man goeth 
to his long home, and the mourners go about 
the streets — then shall the dust return to the 
dust as it was, and the spirit shall return un- 
to God who gave it. For God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every se- 
cret thing, whether it be good, or whether 
it be evil." * 

If this language does not convey the idea 
of a future state of existence and retribution, 
it would not be easy to find words to express 
the same idea more precisely. 

I have already alluded to the translation of 
Elijah, and have no occasion to return to it, 
unless it be to remark, that, independent of 
the idea of the invisible world, irresistibly 
impressed on the narrative of that event, the 
general expectation of Elijah's return to pre- 
pare for the Messiah, in consequence of Ma- 
lachi's prediction, is a demonstration, that, in 
the later periods of the Jewish common- 
wealth, the doctrine of immortality was the 
common and settled belief of the people. It 
is indeed almost impossible to imagine, that 
it was not their common belief during the 
whole period of those distinguished pro- 

* Eccles, xii. 3 — 7. 



76 



IMMORTALITY 



phets, " who testified before-hand the suffer^ 
ings of Christ, and the glory which should 
follow." The doctrines of immortality and 
redemption are so inseparable, that it is ut- 
terly incredible, that the distinct and undis- 
guised representation of the latter (of which 
examples without number can be given) 
could have been at all comprehended, with- 
out supposing, that immortality was at all 
times a doctrine promulgated, and universal- 
ly believed among the people. 

I shall have another occasion to consider 
the doctrine of the prophets, and shall there- 
fore at present confine myself to two pro- 
phetical descriptions, in which I hold the 
doctrines of the resurrection, the immortali- 
ty, and the accountableness of man, to be re- 
presented in the most striking form. 

The 37th chapter of the prophecies of Eze- 
kiel, contains the description of a resurrec- 
tion, so singular and so minute, that it is not 
even conceivable that the resurrection of the 
dead was not in the prophet's mind. That 
the language employed had a primary sense, 
and was immediately designed to signify the 
restoration of Judah from the captivity of 
Babylon, the prophet has expressly said. 
And though it had been intended to have 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



77 



had no other precise application, the terms 
selected to represent to the people even t is 
event, so striking and unusual, would have 
irresistibly compelled us to believe, that the 
idea of a resurrection of the dead was at 
least an idea familiar to their thoughts. 
" The hand of the Lord was upon me, 
says the prophet — and he said unto me, 
prophecy on these bones, and say unto them — 
Behold I will cause breath to enter into you, 
and ye shall live ; and I will lay sinews upon 
you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and co- 
ver you with skin, and put breath in you, and 
ye shall live. And as I prophecied there was 
a noise ; and behold a shaking ; and the bones 
came together, bone to his bone ; and the si- 
news and the flesh came upon them, and the 
skin covered them above ; but there was no 
breath in them. So I prophecied, as he com- 
manded me, and the breath came into them, 
and they lived, and stood upon their feet. 
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, 
O my people, I will open your graves, and 
cause you to come up out of your graves, and 
shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live." 

No form of words, or combination of fi- 
gures, could have given a more striking re- 
presentation of the resurrection of the dead, 



IMMORTALITY 



when God shall again breathe into them the 
breath of life, and when all that are in their 
graves shall hear his voice. 

That the immediate object of the prophecy 
was the restoration of the Jews, is unques- 
tionably certain. But they who are accus- 
tomed to weigh the language of ancient pro- 
phecy, and its peculiar characters, are well 
aware how often its representations are not 
only more striking, but far more exact, in 
their ultimate application, than it is possible 
to consider them, when applied to the events 
to which they primarily related. The ap- 
plication of Ezekiel's description to the rege- 
neration of human beings at the general re- 
surrection, has a meaning, and a force, which 
nothing in the peculiar history of the Jews 
could have ever realized. And were this ap- 
plication of the prophecy even more doubt- 
ful than it is, the language in which it is ex- 
pressed would by itself be sufficient to esta- 
blish the fact, that the resurrection of the 
dead was a doctrine universally known and 
received among the Jewish people. * 

The only other example I shall mention, 
is taken from the concluding chapters of the 

* See Dr Clarke's Evidences of Nat. and revealed Relig. 
fol. edit. Vol. II. p. 713. 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



79 



prophecies of Daniel : " Many of them that 
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 
some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
and everlasting contempt : and they that be 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the fir- 
mament ; and they that turn many to righ- 
teousness as the stars for ever and ever. 
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and 
seal the book, even to the time of the end — 
Go thou thy way, till the end be — for thou 
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of 
the days." 

Every one sees that this prophecy, like 
Ezekiel's, had an immediate application to 
the restoration of the Jewish church. But 
it is equally plain, that it contains, at the 
same time, a most striking representation, 
first, of the resurrection of the dead, and 
then, of the final and permanent results of 
that event ; the judgment of the great day, 
and the final associations of the eternal 
world ;~a representation, with which the 
primary object in the prophet's view is so 
closely interwoven, as to have presented this 
clearly to those to whom it was immediately 
addressed ; while it evidently contains most 
striking circumstances, to which the accom- 
plishment of the prophecy, in its first inter- 



80 



IMMORTALITY 



pretation, could only bear a very faint and 
disproportionate resemblance. 

I shall add nothing to these examples from 
the Old Testament, in proof of the position 
which I have endeavoured to illustrate, that 
the doctrines of immortality are distinctly 
laid down in the ancient scriptures, and 
made an essential part, not only of the pa- 
triarchal or prophetical faith, but of the re- 
ligious system of the Jewish church. It was 
known and believed by sincere and devout 
men, in every age and rank of the people. 

It can scarcely indeed fail to be observed 
by the most querulous disputant, that the 
devotional parts of the ancient scriptures, fer- 
vent and interesting as they appear, would 
lose all their animating spirit, if they were 
not supposed to have been inseparably con- 
nected with the persuasion of the certain- 
ty of a future state, of the irreparable conse- 
quences of obstinate impenitence, and of the 
sure and final rewards of genuine faith and 
purity. 

The general faith of the people may well 
be held as established, if it can be shewn, 
that, imperfect and progressive as the an- 
cient revelation was s the doctrines of immor- 
tality were embraced and relied on by the 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



81 



devout Jews of every age, of whose personal 
history we have any precise information. 
They were not laid down to them, in the 
simple and undisguised form in which they 
are transmitted to us ; and we may well con- 
ceive, that multitudes of men, in every age 
of the Jewish church, did not look beyond 
the external symbols under which they were 
conveyed. Nor should this fact surprise 
us, when we recollect how great a multi- 
tude there is, in the Christian world, whose 
practical knowledge of a far simpler and 
more enlightened faith, seldom goes beyond 
the form and aspect of its external institu- 
tions. But most certainly we have no rea- 
son to believe, that, among the devout Jews 
in any rank of the people, the doctrines of 
immortality, veiled as they were, were either 
inefficient or unknown. Their scriptures of 
every age are the record of immortality re- 
vealed, and of immortality believed. 

We are not indeed warranted to assume, 
that, on this important subject, there were 
no unbelievers among the Jews. In our Sa- 
viour's time, and for at least a considerable 
period before his appearance, there was cer- 
tainly one sect among them, the sect of the 

F 



82 



IMMORTALITY 



Sadducees, who professed to disbelieve the 
doctrine of immortality, and the doctrine of 
the resurrection of the dead. But this very 
sect affords us the proof, that those doctrines 
were known and embraced by the great bo- 
dy of the people. It was this sect which 
gave our Lord the opportunity of asserting 
them, in the most unequivocal term£, as the 
doctrines of the ancient dispensation, as well 
as of the revelation made by himself. 

The Sadducees, on one occasion, imagined 
that they had discovered a difficult or puz- 
zling question, rising out of the doctrines of 
immortality and a resurrection. They stat- 
ed it to our Lord in the form of a hypothe- 
tical case, taken from the situation of a wo- 
man who had had seven husbands ; and who 
might eventually have been conceived to 
meet them all in the world to come : " Whose 
wife, they said, shall she be of the seven f" 

Our Lord's reply, while it exposes the fol- 
ly of their attempt, represents, in the most 
striking light, their ignorance of the doc- 
trine of their own church, on the subject to 
which their question related. " Do ye not 
-therefore err," he said, " because ye know not 
the scriptures, nor the power of God? Tor, 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



83 



when they shall rise from the dead, they 
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, 
but are as the angels which are in heaven." 
He added, " And, as touching the dead, that 
they rise, have ye not read in the book of 
Moses, how, in the bush, God spake to him, 
saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; he is 
not the God of the dead, but of the living ; 
ye therefore do greatly err." 

His meaning was in substance this, that 
the declaration of Moses supposed Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, though their bodies 
were mouldered in the dust, to be notwith- 
standing living beings still, before the pre- 
sence of God in the invisible world. 

Our Saviour's authority must be decisive, 
not only with regard to the doctrine of the 
resurrection, as belonging to the ancient dis- 
pensation, but also with regard to the pecu- 
liar form and texture of the language em- 
ployed to convey it. It is found by him 
where perhaps we would not naturally have 
searched for it, in the original revelation 
made to Moses, at the time of his first mis- 
sion to his countrymen. 

On another occasion, our Lord appealed 



84 



IMMORTALITY 



to the general belief of the doctrines of im- 
mortality, as the Jews supposed them to be 
laid down in their canonical scriptures. 
" Search the scriptures," he said ; 64 in them 
ye think ye have eternal life, and they are 
they which testify of me." We have, more- 
over, the testimony of Martha, the sister of 
Lazarus, whom our Lord raised from the 
dead, for the general belief of the resurrec- 
tion at the last day, on which the devout 
Jews universally relied. " I know," she 
said, " that he shall rise again in the resur- 
rection at the last day." 

But let us take one example besides, from 
a direct question which was put to our 
Lord on this subject. tC Behold, one came 
and said to him, good Master, what good 
thing shall I do, that I may have eternal 
life" I have no occasion to enter into our 
Lord's reply, in which he represented to the 
man who questioned him, his obedience to 
the divine law, as the test of his personal 
character, and of his preparation for eternal 
life ; and superadded to this test, the sacri- 
fice of his ruling passion, and his submis- 
sion to his own authority, as the Saviour of 
the world. But it is evident, that eternal 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



85 



life was the subject of the question 5 and 
that the question was put in such a form, as 
supposed that immortality was a subject of 
general belief and expectation among the 
people, which required no explanation when 
it was mentioned. 

I believe this representation of the faith 
both of the ancient and later Jews to be cor- 
rect, as far as it goes. The doctrines of im- 
mortality, and of the resurrection of the 
dead, though with far less advantage and 
authority than they receive from the Christ- 
ian dispensation, were substantially incorpo- 
rated with the whole series of revelations on 
which they relied as the oracles of God. 
And the single consideration, that these doc- 
trines were contained in their written re- 
cords, and animated the faith and hopes of 
their devout men, for ages before they were 
adopted in any other country of the world, 
was most certainly a pledge to themselves of 
the authority of their whole system ; and, 
if fairly examined and understood, was not 
to be discredited among any other people. 

It can scarcely be denied, that these con- 
siderations add much to the importance, as 
well as to the intrinsic evidence of Judaism. 



86 



IMMORTALITY 



It contains within itself, and delivers as the 
revelation of God, inseparably united both 
to its history and its institutions, the doc- 
trines of immortality, and of a state of fu- 
ture rewards and punishments. It con- 
tains those doctrines, unmixed with any 
portion of the fabulous relations of futurity, 
which polluted the imaginations, and per- 
verted the conduct of every other people. 
Judaism had therefore, from its commence- 
ment to its close, a pledge of its authority, 
which no other system of religious doctrine, 
existing in the ancient world, ever posses- 
sed. 

IL But let us now see how far those doc- 
trines were peculiar to Judea, by inquiring, 
what information is in any form to be found, 
on the subject of immortality, in the records 
of antiquity. I do not refer to the vulgar 
superstitions, in which the subject was in- 
volved by heathen mythology, but to the 
purer doctrines which philosophy assumed, 
from its best and most enlightened inqui- 
ries. 

The heathen philosophers certainly spe- 
culated on the doctrines of immortality, 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



87 



though the idea of a resurrection does not 
seem to have occurred to them ; and the fa- 
bulous relations of Elysian fields and in- 
fernal regions attest the popular traditions 
which had come down from the earliest times. 

But let us not be so far misled by this 
fact, as to conclude, that any thing, in sub- 
stance the same with the immortality which 
Jews and Christians believe, is to be found 
in the general doctrines taught by the sages 
of the heathen world. 

The ancient Egyptians, from whom no 
small part of the Greek philosophy was de- 
rived, undoubtedly asserted the immortality 
of the soul. But to render the future state, 
which they professed to believe, a state of 
retribution, they adopted the doctrine of the 
transmigration of souls ; and there they rest- 
ed every idea of future rewards and punish- 
ments. 

The Greek philosophers followed them in 
embracing the same system, and generally 
adopted the substance of what the Egyptians 
believed on this subject. 

Pythagoras, who had travelled in the east, 
and most probably received much of his phi- 
losophy, not only from Egypt, but from re- 



88 



IMMORTALITY 



moter nations, taught the Egyptian doctrine 
of transmigration ; but represented it as a 
physical event, independent of all moral con- 
siderations. * 

Socrates, and Socrates alone, (to whatever 
cause his singularity may be imputed) ap- 
pears to have possessed purer ideas of the 
immortality of man, and of a future state 
of retribution, than can be justly ascrib- 
ed to any other individual among the Greek 
philosophers. But the opinions of Socra- 
tes himself are not delivered without much 
hesitation and doubt, and are far from 
being either uniform or consistent. At one 
time he speaks of the souls of good and wise 
men after death, as returning to the gods ; to 
live with the gods, and to be associated with 
wise and good men like themselves ; (though 
this last circumstance, he says, he dares not 
confidently affirm) ; and mentions his persua- 
sion, that the future conditions of good men 
will be much more favourable, than the allot- 
ments intended for the unworthy and the pro- 
fligate. But he also supposes, that the spirits 

, * Diogenes Laertius, lib. 8, p. 556. Edit. H. Steph. 1593, 

Ibid. Alcmaeon. p. 620. 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



59 



of men deceased, who had been the slaves 
of low and sensual vices, after having been 
doomed to wander and suffer long amidst 
the ghostly images and monuments of their 
former degradation, are at last transferred 
into other bodies, in which they possess all 
the original vices and habits which had dis<- 
tinguished them through life. * 

In this last point it is evident, that eveij 
Socrates had not been able entirely to ex- 
clude from his philosophy the idea of the E- 
gyptian transmigration ; and that, though he 
thought more correctly than his contempo- 
raries, of the happy immortality reserved for 
wise and good men, his thoughts turned 
chiefly on the idea of their future associa- 
tion with heroes and philosophers. 

On the other hand, he certainly affirms it 
to have been his deliberate opinion, after the 
most dispassionate inquiry, that good men, 
who had devoted their lives to philosophy 
or wisdom, had every reasonable hope of 
happiness in a state of future existence. And 
yet this conviction, though he distinctly a- 
vows it, was not so firmly settled in his own 



* Platonis Phaedo, sect. 21. 



90 



IMMORTALITY 



mind, as to prevent him from taking his last 
leave of his friends, after commending his 
children to their protection and advice, by 
this most impressive declaration. " It is 
time that I should go away to die, and that 
ye should return to the active business of 
life. Whether you or I have the better por- 
tion, is known only to the immortal gods, 
but I think cannot be known with certainty 
by any individual man." * 

Plato had refinements of his own ; and, in 
his arguments for the eternity of the human 
soul, would almost persuade us, that his 
ideas had approached to :he genuine doctrine 
of immortality. But when his system comes 
to unfold itself, it ultimately leads to no otaer 
conclusion than this : — That impure and un- 
worthy souls, after death, pass by physical ne- 
cessity into other bodies, there to receive their 
punishment and purgation ; and that, though 
pure and superior spirits will be exempted 
from the transmigration into other animals, 
(a retribution which he supposes to await the 
polluted and unworthy alone) they will be ul- 
timately absorbed in the essence of the deity 5 

* Flaton. Apolog. sect. 22. Piatou. Phiido, sect. 7. 

3 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



91 



from whom they came, without preserving 
any separate existence, or any distinct pow- 
ers, either of thinking or acting. * 

There is some ambiguity in the language 
which he employs. But when it is connect- 
ed with the illustrations of his disciples, this 
appears to have been understood by them to 
have been his genuine meaning, f 

Though the Stoics, like Plato, had frequent 
recourse to ambiguous language, they as- 
serted, more directly than any of the other 
philosophers, that death is the final period of 
human existence ; that the soul dies with the 
body ; and that death is the extirpation and 
end of all griefs and evils. 

They did sometimes mention a future re- 
novation of human beings. But it is evi- 
dent, that this language (if it meant any 
thing) implied nothing more than such a 
physical transmigration as Pythagoras assert- 
ed ; and was far indeed from involving the 
belief of a state of future rewards and pu- 
nishments. J 

Cicero, one of the most enlightened men 
of all antiquity, and one who wrote more on 

* Platon. Apolog. sect. 22. + See Note R. 

+ See Note S. 



92 



IMMORTALITY 



this subject than any other individual, pre- 
sents to us the most striking inconsistencies 
and contradictions in the management of it. 
He convinces us, either that he did not in- 
tend to give his genuine opinion to the world, 
and only agitated the questions he introdu- 
ced, by means of fictitious personages, to 
shew the perplexing and contrary views in 
which they might be represented ; or that, 
notwithstanding the contrary statements scat- 
tered through his writings, he had no delibe- 
rate or settled opinion with regard to them. * 

The doctrines of the Indian school, cer- 
tainly more ancient, are substantially the 
same with the general opinions of Egypt and 
Greece. Though the immortality of man is 
not denied, the immortality allotted him by 
the Indian Brahmans is involved in fables 
and hypotheses, manifestly similar, both in 
substance and effect, to those which prevailed 
in the western world. 

The whole of this detail, if it is in any de- 
gree correct, should be sufficient to convince 
us, that the doctrines of India, of Egypt, of 
Greece, and of Italy, whatever they contain- 



* See Note T« 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



93 



ed with regard to the immortality of man, 
were far indeed from the ideas of immortali- 
ty which were embraced in Judea ; that the 
faith of all the ancient sects, and the faith of 
Socrates himself, in a greater or less degree, 
embraced the transmigration of souls believ- 
ed in India and Egypt ; and that, therefore, 
whatever was the source of the Jewish im- 
mortality, it was not, and could not have 
been derived from the countries which sur- 
rounded Judea, or from the philosophers of 
Greece or Rome. * 

Let us just observe, besides, that the doc- 
trines of the heathen world, though they 
had been much purer, and more decided 
than they were, were completely ineffectual, 
and were never promulgated, to control the 
passions, or to influence the conduct of the 
people, f They had therefore no practical ef- 
fects whatever. They had a place neither in 
the religion nor in the morality of the west- 
ern world ; and in the east, they have been 
at all times employed, rather to pervert than 
to ameliorate the characters of the multitude. 
The philosophers, not excepting Socrates, re- 
garded them with no settled persuasion ; and 



* See Note U. 



t See Note X. 



91 



IMMORTALITY 



their most enlightened views of an existence 
after death, were universally nugatory and 
inefficient, as principles of human conduct, 
even among those who professed to have 
imbibed them. 

The believing Jew rested his faith on the 
revelation of God, and died in faith, though 
he had not received the accomplishment of 
the promises of a more perfect revelation, 
on which he relied. It was impossible for 
him not to perceive the authority on which 
his faith of immortality was built. It was 
incorporated with the spirit and substance of 
the religious system transmitted from his fa- 
thers, and stood on the records which he re- 
ceived as the oracles of God. It was besides 
attested by every fact, on which the govern- 
ment or the history of his country depended. 

It was not only the original faith of the 
Jewish people, but it was their peculiar 
faith, which distinguished them, as much 
as any other part of their religious system, 
from every other people. 

There were certainly unbelievers among 
the Jews, as has been already stated ; unbe- 
lievers, who rejected the doctrines of immor- 
tality, though they admitted the general au- 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



95 



thority of the ancient dispensation. In the 
parable from which the text is taken, our 
Lord admits the existence of these examples. 
But then he affirms, that they who disregard- 
ed the evidence which was given to the Jews, 
would not have been persuaded, though one 
had risen from the dead. They would have 
been unbelievers still. They would have 
rejected the new, as decidedly as the ancient 
testimony, although it had been possible to 
have obtained it ; however confidently they 
might have beforehand pretended or ima- 
gined, that one sent from the dead would 
have effectually persuaded them. 

The claims of unbelief are at all times in- 
consistent and unreasonable. The Jewish 
unbeliever could admit the truth of the 
Jewish history, in which a continued series 
of miracles is involved. He could admit 
the excellence, and even the authority, of the 
religion and morality of his country, to 
which there was certainly nothing to be 
compared in the faith or character of any 
other ancient nation. He could perceive, from 
the Old Testament, how many of his ances- 
tors had lived and died in the hope of eternal 
life, and believed the doctrines concerning it 



96 



i 

IMMORTALITY 



to be inseparably incorporated with the facts, 
which had come down to them from the ear- 
liest ages. He could, besides, perceive the 
advantages which the religion of Judea pos- 
sessed, above all that was to be found among 
the nations around them. And yet, with all 
these facts in his mind, he could not allow 
himself to believe it a thing credible, that 
the spirit of man should survive his body, or 
that God should raise the dead. 

The modern infidel can allow himself to 
imagine that the order and government of 
this world can exist without the agency of 
God ; he can bring himself to deny the most 
obvious conclusions resulting from events in 
the progress of religion, which the indisput- 
able history of ages has established ; he can 
abide by the incredible positions to which 
his infidelity conducts him, with as much 
confidence, as that with which the unbeliev- 
ing Jew admitted the authority, and yet re- 
jected the doctrines, of Moses and the pro- 
phets ; he can deny, as impossible, the sepa- 
rate existence of disembodied spirits, and the 
ultimate resurrection of the dead; and yet he 
is compelled to admit, as historically true, 



REVEALED TO THE JEWS. 



97 



the facts on which both Judaism and Christ- 
ianity depend. 

In both these cases, the perversion of the 
understanding may generally be traced to" the 
evil heart of unbelief and it is certain from 
experience, that no species of evidence will 
disarm the infidelity, or remove the doubts, of 
which this is truly the source. A messenger 
from the dead would only furnish a new 
occasion for the ingenious subterfuges, or, 
perhaps, for the insincere and malignant 
sarcasms of a perverted mind. 

Happy are they who receive and rely 
on the word of God with simplicity and 
godly sincerity. In the present condition 
of human nature, they have very dif- 
ferent degrees, both of information and 
capacity ; and their faith is of necessity 
more and less enlightened. It is surely 
a great attainment to be able to search deep, 
and to see far into the evidence and doctrine 
of eternal life ; but it is a more valuable acqui- 
sition still, to be able to use sincerely the op- 
portunities and capacity which are given us, 
so as to become Cfi wise unto salvation." 

Dissatisfied and querulous thinkers lose 
their object, by the very means which they 

c 



98 



IMMORTALITY, &C. 



employ to attain it. It is possible that per- 
sons of this description may become seri- 
ous believers at last. But is it not also pos- 
sible, that, from pride of understanding, and 
from inveterate prejudice and habits, they 
may every day become more dissatisfied and 
querulous, till their infidelity and their lives 
terminate together ? God resisteth the proud, 
but he giveth grace to the humble. " Be- 
cause thou hast seen me," said our Lord to 
one of his apostles, after his resurrection, 
" thou hast believed ; blessed are they who 
have not seen, and yet have believed." 



DISCOURSE III. 

ON TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



I.Peter, i. 10,11,12. 

" Of which salvation the prophets have inquir- 
ed and searched diligently, who prophesied 
of the grace that should come unto you ; 
searching what, or what manner of time, the 
spirit of Christ which was in them did sig- 
nify, when it testified beforehand the suffer- 
ings of Christ, and the glory which should 
follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that 
not unto themselves, bid unto us, they did 
minister the things which are now reported 
unto you by them that have preached the 
Gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent 
down from heaven" 

The foundations of the Christian faith were 
laid in the history, the ritual, the prophe- 
cies, and the laws of Judaism. 



100 TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY, 

The Jewish dispensation was so adjusted 
by Infinite Wisdom, as to answer all the 
purposes of practical religion among those 
who lived under it ; though its ultimate de- 
sign is alone to be found in its subserviency 
to the clearer revelation destined for the latter 
days. While it put the ancient believers in 
possession of the doctrine of eternal life, and 
afforded them effectual means, both of duty 
and salvation, the representations of the New 
Testament suppose it to have been, in all its 
leading features, typical or prophetical of a 
more perfect system to come : And in as far 
as either its typical or direct prophecies are 
clearly verified in the Gospel, Christianity 
must be understood to have derived from 
them no small part of the original evidence 
which sustains it. 

The text affirms the salvation of the hu- 
man race, promulgated by the Gospel, to 
have been the leading or most important 
subject of the prophecies delivered under 
the ancient dispensation. It represents the 
prophets themselves as but imperfectly in- 
formed of the meaning and design of their 
own predictions, and of the time fixed for 
their accomplishment. It supposes them to 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



101 



have earnestly searched and inquired, by 
such means as they possessed, to discover, 
on the subject of their predictions, some- 
thing beyond the direct information which 
was given them. But it affirms that, at 
least in many instances, this important fact 
was revealed to them ; that their predictions 
related less to their own times than to ours ; 
and that they were appointed to minister, 
not for themselves, but for us, the things 
which were at last to be verified by the 
Gospel. 

Typical and direct prophecies must be se- 
parately stated. For though they have the 
same design and origin, they bear a very 
different form. 

A type has been defined a rough draught, 
or model, to represent a more perfect object, 
or work, to be afterwards shewn. Typical 
prophecies have been described as things 
which have happened, or were done, in an- 
cient times, and are recorded in the Old Tes- 
tament, which are afterwards found to have 
represented certain facts or events, of much 
more importance in the history of Christ, or 
of his Gospel. * 

* Jortia's Remarks, Vol. I. p. 273. 



109 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY* 



There was scarcely any thing in the form 
or texture of the ancient dispensation, in which 
the New Testament does not suppose some 
reference or analogy, obvious or remote, to 
the Christian church. 

I. The leading events and characters in 
the history of Judaism are transmitted to us, 
as typical representations of more important 
events and personages in later times. 

The history of Abraham and his posterity, 
from the time when he left his native land, 
is, with astonishing effect, directed by the 
providence of God, without any encroach- 
ment on the liberty of human conduct, to 
create a series of typical prophecies, concern- 
ing the last revelation to be made to the hu- 
man race, the ultimate establishment of the 
Christian church, and the peculiar charac- 
ters by which it was to be at last distin- 
guished. 

If this idea be well-founded, it presents us 
a testimony for the truth of the Gospel of 
a most peculiar kind. 

The great Creator and Lord of heaven and 
earth, to whose purpose every human creature 
is subservient, selects one people from the rest 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



103 



of the world j and, under his overruling pro- 
vidence, their peculiar history becomes, for 
ages together, a continued series of typical 
instruction, concerning the recovery of the 
human race from the guilt and depravation 
which originated in the fall of our first pa- 
rents, to be effected by means of remote 
events, which are to happen in the last age 
of the Jewish commonwealth ; the incarna- 
tion, the death, the resurrection, and ascen- 
sion of the Son of God. 

Every circumstance rises naturally from 
another, in the original narrative, and an- 
swers the ends to which it is primarily 
directed. The persons immediately con- 
cerned are guided and agitated by their own 
passions, affections, and caprices, like other hu- 
man beings; unconscious at the time that they 
minister for distant ages what is afterwards 
to be reported by the Gospel ; and the whole 
series of their history, when it is completed, 
terminates in one grand and general object. 
It paves the way for the revelation to be pro- 
mulgated to every people ; and, in its pro- 
gress, it contains the most striking represen- 
tation of the means by which that revelation 



104* 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



is at last perfected and spread through the 
world. 

The prophets, the patriarchs, and the tribes 
of Israel, while few of them could perceive 
the most important signification of events 
in which they were the principal agents, be- 
came the instruments of providence to an- 
nounce, to the last ages, the grace which was 
to come to them by the revelation of Jesus 
Christ, " testifying before-hand the sufferings 
of Christ, and the glory which should follow." 

When Abraham prepared to offer his only 
son Isaac in sacrifice to God, and afterwards 
received him back in a figure, as if he had 
been raised from the dead, he was unconsci- 
ously exhibiting an emblematical representa- 
tion of the sacrifice and death of the only 
begotten Son of God, who was ordained by 
the will of the everlasting Father to put away 
sin by the sacrifice of himself ; and of his re- 
surrection from the dead, for the redemption 
of our fallen world. From the circum- 
stances of the narrative, Abraham could 
not have perceived the design of this trans- 
action before it was finished, But we learn 
from the New Testament that, when it was 
completed, he saw, with exulting joy, the 

4 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



105 



day of Christ. " He believed God, and it 
was counted to him for righteousness." 

" Melchizedeck, king of Salem, which is 
king of peace, and priest of the Most High 
God," received from Abraham, returning 
from the slaughter of the kings, the tenth 
part of his spoil. He was, both by his un- 
recorded descent, which was unknown to 
the house of Levi, and by the transaction in 
which Abraham acknowledged him as his 
superior (receiving his blessing, and paying 
him tithes), the type and representative of 
him who is the everlasting King of Peace, 
and who, in the end of the world, for our 
redemption, is constituted a priest for ever, 
after the order of Melchizedeck.* 

Moses foretold to the Israelites that a pro- 
phet would rise from their brethren, like to 
himself, whose authority they would be re- 
quired to respect, under the penalty of a se- 
vere retribution ; f and the writer of the last 
verses in the book of Deuteronomy (which 
were probably inserted at a more recent pe- 
riod than the date of the rest of the narrative) 
tells us, that <c no prophet had since arisen 
in Israel, like to Moses, whom the Lord knew 



* Heb. vii. 



f Deuteronomy, xviii. 15 ? 18, 19. 



106 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY* 



face to face, in all the signs and wonders 
which he sent him to do." 

The resemblance between Moses and 
Christ, the predicted prophet like to Moses, 
who did at last arise in the house of Israel, 
is in so many points, and in such different 
forms, undeniably exact, that they cannot be 
examined without amazement. 

Moses was the mediator of a covenant be- 
tween God and the people of Israel ; and un- 
der the New Testament, there is one media- 
tor between God and man, the man Christ 
Jesus. Moses was preserved in his infancy 
from the general massacre of Jewish child- 
ren decreed by the tyrant of Egypt, and, at 
a more advanced age, was compelled to fly 
from his country to save his life ; and 
Joseph and Mary fled with the child Je- 
sus from the face of Herod, and escaped in 
Egypt the massacre of the children of Beth- 
lehem, decreed for his destruction. Moses 
subjected the magicians who contended with 
him in Egypt, and constrained them to con- 
fess the superior power which was given him; 
and Christ compelled the devils, whom he 
ejected in Judea, to acknowledge him publicly 
as the " holy one of God." Moses did many 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY, 



107 



miracles to attest his mission, and to sus- 
tain his character as a lawgiver and a pro- 
phet ; and Jesus of Nazareth was proclaimed 
at Jerusalem as " a man approved of God by 
miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God 
did by him before all the people — for no man 
could have done the works which Jesus did, 
except God was in him." Moses controlled 
the swelling of the Red Sea, which retired 
and returned at his command ; and even the 
winds and the sea obeyed the voice of Jesus 
of Nazareth. Moses fed the people with 
bread from heaven in the wilderness ; and 
Jesus fed, with miraculous bread, the multi- 
tudes who followed him to the deserts of Ju- 
dea. God talked with Moses face to face ; and 
it is he who was in the bosom of the father, 
who hath revealed him to us. The face of Mo- 
ses shone with the reflected glory which he had 
seen on Mount Sinai, as he descended among 
the people ; and the face of Jesus, when he 
came down from the mount of transfigura- 
tion, filled all the people with amazement. 
Moses was without food, forty days and for- 
ty nights, on Mount Sinai ; and Christ fast- 
ed forty days in the wilderness. Moses 
appointed seventy elders, with some por- 



108 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



rion of his own spirit, to share his labours 
among the people ; and Christ sent forth 
seventy disciples, to preach the Gospel in 
Judea and Galilee, and gave them power 
to work miracles in his name, as the test 
of their mission and of their doctrines. Mo- 
ses sent twelve men to view the land of 
promise ; and Christ sent forth twelve apos- 
tles, to gather into the kingdom of God 
the children of promise from every land. Mo- 
ses lifted up the brazen serpent in the 
wilderness, that whosoever looked thereon 
might be healed of the sting of the fiery ser- 
pents ; and Christ was lifted up on the cross 
at Jerusalem, that whosoever believeth on 
him might not perish, but might have ever- 
lasting life." 

This analogy might be pursued much far- 
ther. But, without detailing more particulars, 
it is sufficient to subjoin the striking and im- 
pressive conclusion, which one who has en- 
tered more minutely into the subject, has de- 
duced from this comparison. " Is this si- 
militude and correspondence in so many 
things between Moses and Christ, the effect 
of mere chance ? Let us search all the records 
of universal history, and see if we can find & 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



109 



man, who was so like to Moses as Christ, or 
so like to Christ as Moses. If we cannot 
find such an one, then have we found him of 
whom Moses in the law and the prophets 
did write — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of 
God." * 

David was selected from the shepherds of 
his father, to become the ancestor of kings, 
who were to transmit his name to the latest 
period of an independent kingdom in Ju- 
dea ; and, through his whole history, he be- 
came the type and representative of one 
who was to descend from him, — whose king- 
dom was to be an everlasting kingdom, which 
was to reach from the rivers of Judea to the 
ends of the earth. The sovereignty of David, 
the sanctuary and the instituted symbols of 
his religious worship, his seat of government, 
and the permanent dominion of his family, 
are presented to us by the oracles of God, 
as emblematical representations of that king- 
dom which shall never be moved ; of that 
greater and more perfect tabernacle not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens ; of that 
Jerusalem which is above, the city of the liv- 



* Jortin's Remarks, Vol. I. p. 290. 



110 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



ing God ; and of the everlasting power and 
reign of Christ. 

The tribes of Israel are, from the earliest to 
the latest periods of their history, selected as 
the visible representatives of the invisible 
household and family of God ; and the land 
which was given by promise to the children 
of Abraham, is the pledge and type of 
that heavenly Canaan, to which the sons of 
God were predicted to come at last, from the 
east and from the west, from the north, 
and from the south — to be associated with 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king- 
dom of God. 

The events and character belonging to 
the Jewish history, of which no more than 
a few detached specimens have now been 
mentioned, are brought forward by the 
evangelists and apostles, as types or figures 
prepared by the wisdom of God from the 
beginning of ages, to serve at last as tes- 
timonies or illustrations of the truth, the 
progress, and the permanency, of the Christ- 
ian faith ; essential articles in the narra- 
tives to which they belong, but, at the same 
time, distinct representations of the most 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



Ill 



important events and personages in the last 
ages. 

It is surely consolatory and persuasive to 
know, from the most ancient and authentic 
documents, that the history and oracles of 
the Christian church are the visible accom- 
plishment of typical predictions, continued 
under various modes and forms, from the 
first generations of men. The facts and cha- 
racters exhibited under the old dispensation, 
while they had their natural place and use in 
the situations to which they are primarily ap- 
plied, are also directed, by the wisdom of God, 
to serve as patterns or lively emblems, cor- 
responding to real transactions under the 
New Testament. The relation or resem- 
blance of the one to the other, though it 
had not been understood before it was ex- 
plained, is not the arbitrary result of human 
fancy or invention. The authenticity of the 
original history being admitted, it forms an 
important and striking part of one great and 
uniform plan for the salvation of the human 
race ; written for our admonition, on whom 
the ends of the world are come ; gradually 
opened and expanded in the history of one 
selected people, and by means suited to dif- 



112 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY* 



ferent times, from the beginning to the close 
of the revelations of God to the human race ; 
affording a striking demonstration of his un- 
searchable counsels and sovereignty, in esta- 
blishing the authority of a revelation, for 
which the preparation of ages was employed. 
<c Of this salvation, patriarchs and prophets 
of every age inquired and searched — search- 
ing what, or what manner of time the spirit 
of Christ which was in them did signify — 
unto many of whom it was revealed, that 
not unto themselves, but unto us, they did 
minister the things which are now reported 
by the Gospel — with the Holy Ghost sent 
down from heaven." 

We shall perhaps enter with more discern- 
ment into this conclusion, by observing, 

II. That the religious rites of the Jews were 
all designed to have an ultimate reference to 
the subsequent revelation of Christianity. 

A visible form of religion, such as the ri- 
tual of Judaism presents to us, independent 
of its ultimate application, was probably, in 
its own nature, better suited to the state of 
language and information at the time when 
it was established ; better calculated, at that 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



113 



period, to answer the purposes of practical 
duty ; and, addressed to the understanding 
by means of external symbols, more com- 
pletely fitted to remain unchanged for ages, 
and to present the same aspect to successive 
generations, than direct and general doc- 
trines, or a more refined and spiritual 
worship would have been. In adopting 
the visible forms, which were by regular 
usage constantly before them, the Jewish 
people received a pledge of the things they 
were intended to signify, which, though more 
and less understood, they had perpetual in- 
ducements to search and investigate ; and 
which, as far as their practical application is 
concerned, they were probably better quali- 
fied to appreciate, than they, who have been 
always accustomed to plain and doctrinal, 
and never to symbolical or emblematical in- 
struction, will readily imagine. 

The effects of the Mosaical rites on the ci- 
vil relations of the Jews, and, as institutes 
of religion, on their state of mind and on 
their morals, were level to the capacities of 
every order of the people : And, even their 
reference to revelations, events, and person- 
ages, beyond the Jewish dispensation, which 

H 



114 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY 



is as clearly established as any fact of the 
same kind can be, the sincere and de- 
vout worshippers of every age were more 
or less qualified to appreciate, when they 
searched diligently to discover fiC what, and 
what manner of time," the spirit which was 
in their ritual " did signify, when it testified 
before-hand the sufferings of Christ, and the 
glory which should follow ; events which 
are now reported to us," not under the 
typical law of a carnal commandment, but 
t( by the Holy Ghost sent down from hea- 
ven." 

Though the Jewish ritual was completely 
separated from all the idolatries of the hea- 
then nations, and being exclusively conse- 
crated to the service of the only living and 
true God, was directly opposed to them all, 
it is evident, that the origin of sacrifices 
must be referred to a date much more an- 
cient than the establishment of Judaism. 

Sacrifices were in practice among all the 
tribes of mankind, from the earliest period 
after the fall of man, of which any trace 
can be found. The sacrifices offered by 
Cain and Abel were followed by the obla- 
tions, which were universally adopted among 

5 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



115 



the descendants of Noah, in every district 
of the world. 

The connection between the moral defi- 
ciencies or guilt of human beings, and the 
blood of inferior animals offered in sacrifice, 
is surely not an obvious relation ; nor is it 
at all obvious, that such sacrifices would, at 
any period of the world, have any influence 
in securing the protection, or in averting the 
judgments, of the God of eternal power and 
purity. 

As a fact, the universality of sacrifice is in^ 
controvertible ; and while we are conscious 
that it has no natural relation to the things 
to which it has been uniformly attached, we 
can account for its universality, only by 
tracing it back to an original and common 
authority, in the earliest times, from which 
it has been transmitted through the different 
tribes of mankind ; ri vetted on their manners 
by inveterate prejudice and habit, long after 
its origin was forgotten. 

If it was instituted immediately after the 
fall, at the time when the first sinners were 
clothed with the skins of beasts, or when 
the sons of Adam made their first oblation, 
it is easy to account for the uniformity of 



116 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



sacrifical usages in the subsequent ages ; even 
where men have had nothing else in com- 
mon than the same descent, the same con- 
sciousness of guilt, and the same awe or 
dread of invisible powers. 

It is equally easy to understand, how those 
usages were preserved and multiplied, long 
after the tradition of their origin was ex- 
tinct. The ignorant practice and habit of 
one generation after another supplied its 
place, and perpetuated sacrifices of blood in 
every quarter of the world. . 

When the Mosaical rites were instituted, the 
original ordinance of sacrifices was preserved 
and modified. Among the heathen nations, 
it soon degenerated into the most abject su- 
perstitions ; and a great proportion of man- 
kind came at last to offer their oblations to 
demons, and not to God. Providence, in se- 
parating the Jews, preserved among them, by 
a precise and appointed ritual, the original 
institution, unpolluted by the inventions and 
idolatries of the heathens. It received such 
a definite and unchangeable form in the Mo- 
saic system, as rendered it a certain and un- 
equivocal memorial to the latest times, of the 
original fall of man irom innocence, and of 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



117 



the means ordained when sin entered into 
the world, and death by sin, for the ultimate 
redemption of the fallen race. 

With this idea in our thoughts, we find a 
meaning and substance in the Jewish rites, 
which their first aspect does not seem to con- 
vey. 

The offices assigned to the Jewish priests, 
and the sacrifical ceremonies prescribed to the 
worshippers, represented the effects of mo- 
ral delinquency among every order of the 
people, and, at the same time, the indispen- 
sible obligation of sinners of every descrip- 
tion, to supplicate pardon by the appointed 
means, with the faith of believers, and with 
the humility and solicitude of penitents. 

But the chief design of sacrifices, from their 
origin to their abolition, was to serve as em- 
blematical signals of the great sacrifice of a- 
tonement which was at last to be offered for 
the restoration of the world, according to the 
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God. Continued and protected from Moses to 
Christ, amidst all the ignorance and idola- 
tries of the nations, as well as the perverse- 
ness of the Jews themselves, the Jewish sa- 
crifices to the only true,God preserv ed and 
transmitted entire, from age to age, the origi- 



118 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



nal covenants of promise given to Moses and 
the patriarchs, as the perpetual and consecra- 
ted symbols of salvation to come, and of sal- 
vation to all the tribes of the world. 

Among the Jews, every rite was moral. 
Bat every rite was also typical, and had its 
peculiar reference to the last days. The le- 
gal impurities, as well as the prohibited vio- 
lations of the moral law, represented the in- 
trinsic pollution and guilt of sin ; while the 
appointed sacrifices, varied according to the 
subjects to which they were immediately ap- 
plied, were permanent signals of the predic- 
ted grace of the gospel, which was at last to 
reach every form and degree of human pollu- 
tion, and every sinner in his place. 

Every circumstance in the articles pre- 
scribed had its typical application. The in- 
stitutions given from Mount Sinai, and scru- 
pulously observed by the Jews till the 
dissolution of their commonwealth, inde- 
pendent of their primary use, have all and 
each of them a counterpart in the Christian 
revelation, of which they were expressly de- 
signed to be prophetical symbols. 

I need select no other examples than the 
pascal lamb ; the lamb without spot ; the 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 119 

lamb of which a bone was not to be broken; 
the confession of the sins of the people over 
the head of the scape-goat, sent into the wil- 
derness after the solemn declaration of the 
priest that he bare the iniquities of the peo- 
ple ; the many victims offered on the altar, 
to make the prescribed atonements for every 
species of individual or national guilt — the 
shedding and the sprinkling of their blood ; 
the general intercession of the priest for the 
people, and his solemn entry into the holy 
place, once every year, and not without 
blood, on the great day of atonement. 

These, and many similar institutions in the 
Jewish ritual, it is scarcely possible toexamine, 
in connection with the explanations given of 
them in the New Testament, without being 
convinced that they were designed to be- 
come original and permanent representations, 
for many remote generations of believers, of 
the lamb of God slain from the foundation 
of the world, of which not a bone was to be 
broken — of the great Immanuel, who was 
destined to bear our sins in his own body on 
the cross, and to give his life a ransom for 
many, — and of his solemn ascension, after he 
was risen from the dead, to the holy place, 



120 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



not made with hands, with his own blood, 
there to appear in the presence of God for 
us. 

This direct application to Christianity of 
the most prominent and peculiar circum- 
stances in the Jewish ritual, which gives 
them a meaning and interest so far beyond 
what their first aspect would convey, is so 
explicitly assumed and illustrated by the 
writers of the New Testament, that it can 
scarcely be denied that it forms an impor- 
tant link in the great chain of evidence for 
the authority of the gospel. 

The sacrifice both of inanimate and living 
victims, the substance of every idolatry, 
adopted by every barbarous as well as every 
civilized people, and conjoined in the heathen 
temples with the most detestable usages, is 
purified and dignified in the Jewish ritual 
as the ordinance of God ; an ordinance which 
answers from the first the great purposes of 
practical duty, and spiritual religion ; and is, 
at the same time, during its whole period, 
subservient to a far more perfect and univer- 
sal system, at last to be revealed. 

The Jews are separated for ages, as the 
only people who worship the true God ; and 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 121 



they preserve for Jews and Gentiles of the 
latest times, by means of their appointed ri- 
tual, the symbolical as well as the written 
oracles of inspired truth. 

If this be at all a correct view of the lead- 
ing features of the Jewish ritual, it brings an 
authority to Christianity from the earliest 
usages of human beings, as well as from 
every known fact with regard to the revela- 
tion of God. If the exact and minute cor- 
respondence between typical symbols and the 
events or transactions which they were ma- 
nifestly designed to represent or foretell, are 
not to be admitted as direct proofs of the 
truth of any doctrine, they must at least be 
received as " reasonable and striking confir- 
mations of the foreknowledge of God ; of 
the uniform views of Providence, under dif- 
ferent dispensations ; and of the analogy and 
agreement between the Old Testament and 
the new."* 

It is not possible to imagine, that the wri- 
ters of the New Testament, if they understood 
the subject of their own writings, should 
have so often brought forward this analogy 

* Jortin's Remarks, Vol. I. \\ 292. 



122 TYPICAL chuistiantty. 

to illustrate the Christian faith, or should 
have represented in so many different lights 
the typical institutions of the Old Testa- 
ment, as prophetical preparations of the Gos- 
pel ; without being themselves persuaded, 
that it was the original intention of provi- 
dence, to give them this aspect, and to em- 
ploy them for this end, during the whole pe- 
riod of the ancient dispensation. 

The existence of the ancient Jews as a 
separate people, and the general character of 
their peculiar ritual, no form of incredulity 
can bring into question ; and the facts being 
established, the analogy between the rites of 
Moses, and the substance of the Gospel, illus- 
trated, as it is, by Christ and his apostles, 
leaves no room for any reasonable doubt, 
that the one is the result and completion of 
the other. If the law was our schoolmaster 
to bring us to Christ, then was the author 
of the law and of the Gospel the same. " The 
law prophesied until John." * But from that 
time, the abolition of the law was prepared, 
and the more perfect revelation predicted 
began to be unfolded. 



* Matt. xi. 13, 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



123 



The great plan of providence for the re- 
storation of the human race, was therefore a 
uniform, consistent, and intelligible plan, 
from the earliest to the latest age. It was 
exhibited and announced by the types and 
ordinances of an external ritual, during its 
long period of preparation. But when the 
fulness of time was come, and the chief pur- 
pose of the old dispensation was completely 
attained, the great archetype appeared, to 
verify to Jews and Gentiles all that Moses 
and the law had prophesied concerning him; 
" To give light to them who sit in dark- 
ness , and in the region and shadow of death ; 
to guide our feet into the way of peace; 
to become a light to enlighten the Gentiles, 
and the glory of his people Israel." 

When the Mosaical institutions terminate 
in Christianity, we have the general system of 
providence full in our view, and the veil no 
longer covers the face of Moses. The Day 
spring from on high illuminates the world, 
and the shadows disappear. The Sun of 
Righteousness arises with healing under his 
wings ; no longer shedding his influence on 
Jews alone, but spreading light and salvation 
to the ends of the earth. 



194 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



We know, then, why sacrifices were at 
first ordained, and' why the blood of bulls 
and goats was shed on the altar of God ; 
why the posterity of Abraham were a cho- 
sen people, and how they preserved the co- 
venants of promise ; why the daily sacrifice 
did not cease, till after the veil of the tem- 
ple was rent in twain, and the lamb of God 
was slain which taketh away the sin of the 
world. 

The certainty of the facts is demonstrated 
beyond the possibility of doubt, whatever 
may be the interpretation they receive. The 
existence of the Jews before the date of any 
written history but their own ; the conti- 
nued observance of their peculiar ritual, for 
ages before we have any narrative of other 
nations, excepting what is found in the Jew- 
ish books ; the applications to Christianity 
which the New Testament has made of the 
minutest circumstances in the Jewish ritual; 
the correspondence between the facts con- 
tained in the history of the Gospel, and the 
representation of them affirmed to have been 
exhibited in the typical ordinances of Moses; 
— it is scarcely possible for a candid mind to 
examine with deliberate attention, without 



TYPICAL CfcRSTIANITY. 



being conscious, that they irresistibly lead 
to this most important result and conclusion ; 
that the dispensation of the gospel was in 
preparation ever since the fall of man ; and 
that the institutions established among the 
Jews, were originally designed to transmit 
to us, by many unconscious and many un- 
willing witnesses, the most animated images 
and anticipations both of the substance and 
of the effects of Christianity — glorious monu- 
ments, raised on the history of the world, of 
the manifold wisdom and grace of God, " hid 
from ages and generations, and now made 
manifest to the saints." 

After all these views of the subject, we 
must be sensible, that an important branch 
of the doctrine in the text is still untouched, 
and what was probably the chief branch 
in the Apostle's mind. 

The instruction received from typical pre- 
dictions, though it is most impressive, when 
it is thoroughly examined, is neither so ob- 
vious to common apprehension, nor ultimate- 
ly so completely understood, as that which 
is given by direct prophecies of events to 
come. 

The prophecies of the Old Testament, dis- 



126 



TYPICAL CHRISTIANITY. 



tinguished from all that was typical under 
the Mosaic dispensation, are therefore to be 
next considered by themselves, as one of the 
leading sources of the evidence which Chris- 
tianity has derived from Judaism. 



DISCOURSE IV. 



ON PROPHECY. 



1. Peter, i. 10. 

" Of which salvation the prophets have inquir- 
ed diligently, who prophesied of the grace 
that should come unto you' 9 

" The salvation" which the Apostle, in the 
preceding verse, affirms believers to receive, 
as the end and completion of the Christian 
faith, is represented in this text as the sub- 
ject of search and inquiry among the Jew- 
ish prophets, from the earliest times ; an as- 
sertion which gives a striking confirmation 
to the doctrine before illustrated, concerning 
the immortality revealed the Jews. 

Without returning to this point, we must 
be sensible, that if the Jewish prophets, of 
every age, distinctly foretold the grace and 



OX PROPHECY. 



salvation promulgated by the gospel, and if 
their predictions have been verified to our 
conviction, the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment form, by themselves, an important ar- 
ticle in the evidence which Christianity has 
derived from Judaism. 

I have not the presumption to suppose, 
that I can add any thing on the subject of 
prophecy, to what has been so often stated, 
by writers of the first distinction in the 
Christian world. But an outline of the facts 
on which the testimony of the prophets de- 
pends, is necessary to the general argument 
which I am attempting to illustrate. 

The prophecies of the Old Testament may 
be arranged in three different classes. 

There are Prophecies which were strictly 
confined to the state of the Jews, or of the 
neighbouring nations, and which had no re- 
ference to any thing beyond the events to 
which they were immediately applied ; Pro- 
phecies, which were from the first intended 
to have a double sense or application, pri- 
marily to the condition of the Jews or of 
other ancient nations, and ultimately to the 
history and character of the Christian church; 
And Prophecies, which were originally in- 



ON PROPHECY. 



129 



tended to apply to Christianity alone, and 
which cannot be intelligibly interpreted as 
relating to any other subject. 

1. Prophecies of the first of these classes, 
were of indispensible necessity from the com- 
mencement of the Jewish dispensation. 

The succession of inspired prophets was 
one of the most important branches of the 
miraculous providence which accompanied 
the Jews from Egypt. It was essential to 
the theocracy from which their constitution, 
civil and religious, derived its peculiar cha- 
racter ; and it was more or less continued 
with them to the latest periods of their com- 
monwealth. 

The prophets were indeed the most im- 
portant instruments employed to announce 
and to administer the miraculous providence ; 
which was, in every instance, the accomplish- 
ment of predictions which they had before 
delivered. The Old Testament contains no 
example of miraculous interposition, which 
is not preceded by the mission of the pro- 
phets, and by revelations announced by 
them. 

The moral and practical effects of the pe~ 
I 



130 



ON PROPHECr. 



culiar system of Judaism, depended, in no 
small degree, on this arrangement. The uni- 
form accomplishment of predictions relating 
to events which were to happen to the Jews 
themselves,demonstrated, to every successive 
generation, the authority of the government 
under which they were placed, and was the 
great public instrument by which their pecu- 
liar laws were preserved and sanctioned, from 
age to age. The revelations which began 
with Moses, were continued by the ministry 
of prophets, whom God raised up in every 
emergency which required supernatural in- 
terposition; and their predictions, verified by 
events which affected either the Jews or the 
neighbouring nations, even when they refer- 
red to nothing beyond them, were of perpe- 
tual interest and importance, as indisputable 
signals of the presence of the God of Israel, 
and visible monuments to attest the conti- 
nued authority of the Mosaic dispensation. 

This idea, no doubt, proceeds on the sup- 
position, that, from the time of Moses, the 
great system of prophecy was carried on by 
Jewish prophets alone, and was continued 
through all the generations of the Jews, till 



ON PROPHECY. 



131 



the original design of their peculiar dispen- 
sation was completely attained.* 

This fact, so far from conveying the idea 
of a partial dispensation, from which every 
people but the Jews were to be excluded, (an 
idea to which unbelievers so eagerly resort,) 
created the most effectual security which 
could probably have been given, for preserv- 
ing, to the latest times, the evidence of au- 
thentic prophecies in favour of a system, for 
which Judaism was no more than the pre- 
paration, and in which the interests and salva- 
tion of every nation of the world were to be 
ultimately involved. 

Had the prophets been scattered among 
the Heathen nations, their predictions, sup- 
posing them to have been similar to those 
delivered to the Jews, as far as human saga- 
city can discern the probable consequence, 
would not only have become subservient to 
the worst superstitions, but their ultimate 
design must have been completely defeated. 
They would have been mixed and confound- 
ed with all the absurdities of the Heathen 
oracles ; and must soon have become utter- 



* See Note Y". 



132 



ON PROPHECY. 



ly incapable of answering the purposes of a 
divine revelation.* The same circumstances 
which convince us of the wisdom and expe- 
diency of separating the Jews from all other 
nations, ought to satisfy us of the necessity 
of confining the mission of the prophets to 
the Jewish church. 

This restriction of prophetical inspiration, 
not only preserved the predictions delivered 
in their original purity, by placing them on 
the record of the Jewish scriptures, but, con- 
necting them inseparably with the Jewish 
dispensation, effectually secured to them that 
faithful transmission, and general promulga- 
tion for which they were ultimately destin- 
ed. 

But, what it is of most importance to ob- 
serve at present, the predictions of the Jew- 
ish prophets, when they related to events 
which affected the state of the Jews alone, or 
the condition of the neighbouring countries, 
were not only (as has been already stated,) a 
visible symbol of the continued presence and 
authority of the God of Israel, but they were, 
besides, the great source of that faith and 

* See Note Z. 



ON PROPHECY. 



133 



confidence with which it was necessary to 
inspire the Jewish people in the far more 
important predictions which they were des- 
tined to preserve for the last days. 

Every one capable of forming a judg- 
ment on the subject must be sensible, that, 
had there been no predictions which were 
immediately and literally fulfilled, or none 
of which the accomplishment fell within 
their own observation, the prophecies which 
related entirely to remote events, and which 
were not to be fulfilled for ages after they 
were delivered, could have made little im- 
pression on men so utterly unprepared to 
rely on them. 

But when the same men knew, from their 
own experience, that predictions, delivered 
by the same prophets who foretold distant 
events, were uniformly accomplished when 
they related to events which affected them- 
selves, or the condition of their country, 
they acquired a confidence in the propheti- 
cal intimations which related to a remote fu- 
turity, — which, without such an experience, 
it would have been altogether impossible to 
have given them. 



134 



ON PROPHECY. 



When Moses foretold that the earth would 
open and swallow up Korah, and his compa- 
nions in rebellion, and the people saw with 
trembling astonishment this awful prediction 
realized ; was it possible for them to question 
the inspiration of Moses, or to doubt the au- 
thority of other predictions delivered by him, 
whether they related to events which were 
immediately to happen, or to events which 
were referred to the most distant ages ? 

When Isaiah foretold to Hezekiah his de- 
liverance from Sennacherib, the king of Assy- 
ria ; and when his prediction was almost 
immediately accomplished, by means the 
most unexpected and improbable ; when he 
gave him the sign which he asked on the 
dial of Ahaz, and God added fifteen years 
to his life, as the prophet foretold, — was not 
Hezekiah prepared, as he could not other- 
wise have been, by his own experience of the 
exact accomplishment of these predictions, to 
rely on every prophecy which he heard from 
Isaiah, with regard to events beyond his own 
time, and even with regard to the history 
and transactions of the most remote futurity ? 

When Daniel's interpretation of Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream, which foretold that he 

3 



ON PROPHECY. 



135 



was to be deprived of his understanding, 
and to be driven from the habitations of 
men, and his solution of the writing on the 
wall to Belshazzar, which announced the 
dethronement and death of that dissipated 
prince, were literally and almost immediate- 
ly fulfilled, they who could connect these 
predictions with their accomplishment, were 
at least prepared to give credit to the inspi- 
ration of Daniel, when he afterwards fore- 
told the succession of empires which were to 
rise in the world, and the still greater events 
which were to distinguish the last days. 
When we read the prophecy of Joshua, 
with regard to the rebuilding of Jericho, 
emitted five hundred years before its accom- 
plishment i the prediction of the destruc- 
tion of the altar at Bethel, by a prince of the 
house of David, Josiah by name, announced 
three hundred years before Josiah was born ; 
and the prediction, that Cyrus would rebuild 
Jerusalem and the temple, given upwards of 
an hundred years before the birth of Cyrus ; 
we must of necessity perceive, that each of 
these predictions, standing on the record of 
the Jewish books from the time when it 
was delivered by the prophet, was, before its 



136 



ON PROPHECY. 



accomplishment, exactly in the same situa- 
tion with all other prophecies of distant 
events ; a subject of inquiry to those who 
attended to it, or an object of faith and ex- 
pectation to those who relied on the authori- 
ty of the prophet. 

But it is evident, that when the events so 
circumstantially predicted, at such a remote 
period, had actually happened, the literal ful- 
filment of those prophecies must, in the judg- 
ment of those who deliberately examined 
them, have given a new sanction to the 
whole series of Jewish prophecy, and could 
not fail to add greatly to its authority on all 
other subjects. 

This view of prophecy renders it al- 
most self-evident, that if there had been 
no certain and undeniable accomplishment 
of prophecies with regard to experienced 
events, there would have been scarcely 
any faith given to predictions, of which the 
fulfilment was not to happen for ages. It was 
the continued operation of a miraculous pro- 
vidence, and the constant experience of pro- 
phecies, with regard to the condition of the 
Jews, renewed in succession, and always lite- 
rally fulfilled, which gave the prophets the 



ON PROPHECY. 



137 



confidence of the people, when their predic- 
tions turned on events, either more remote, 
or of more general interest. The inspiration 
of their prophets was completely ascertain- 
ed, by the events which affected themselves 
or their country ; and therefore, they impli- 
citly relied on it, when it represented the trans- 
actions of a distant age or an unknown people. 

I need scarcely add on this point, that the 
same circumstances, if they are dispassion- 
ately examined, ought to lead us to the same 
conclusion which the Jews adopted. 

We give credit to their scriptures, as con- 
taining an authentic narrative ; and we are 
therefore bound to regard the whole series 
of the prophecies fulfilled to them, which 
had no reference beyond themselves, as suc- 
cessive pledges given, from the beginning to 
the termination of the ancient dispensation, 
of the fidelity and final accomplishment of 
every prediction on their record, relating to 
the last ages, or to the condition and pro- 
gress of the Christian church. 

It will strengthen this conclusion to ob- 
serve, besides, that the accomplishment of the 
predictions which relate to the state of the 
Jews, both after the Babylonish captivity, 



138 



ON PROPHECY. 



and after the final dissolution of their com-* 
monwealth, and which embrace no other 
subject, affords a striking confirmation of the 
general authority of the ancient prophets, 
and of every portion of the Jewish history. 

There is a prophecy addressed to the 
Jews, which is twice delivered by Jeremiah, 
in these words : " Though I make a full end 
of all the nations whither I have scattered 
thee, (saith the Lord) yet will I not make a 
full end of thee." * 

The prophet Hosea predicted of the Jews, 
" that they should be wanderers among the 
nations." f And Amos more particularly re- 
presents " the house of Jacob" as every 
where scattered, but constantly preserved : 
" I will not utterly destroy the house of Ja- 
cob, saith the Lord ; for Lo, I will command, 
and I will sift the house of Israel among all 
the nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, 
yet shall not the least grain fall upon the 
earth." % 

The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Baby- 
lonians, and the Romans, by each of whom 
the Jews were at different periods subjugated 

* Jeremiah, xxx. 1 1. and xlvi. 28. + Hosea, ix. 17. 
J Amos, ix. 8. <§i 



ON PROPHECY. 



139 



or enslaved, have all, in their turn, long ceased 
to exist as independent nations. Their pos- 
terity are undistinguished and unknown in 
the population of modern states. 

The existence of the Jews, on the other 
hand, as a discinct and separate people, is as 
clearly exhibited in the latest as in the ear- 
liest ages. Hosea and Amos prophesied in 
the days of Uzziah, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ; 
Jeremiah, before the Babylonish captivity ; 
and when the Jews returned to Judea, seven- 
ty years after the captivity, they had the same 
national character, and were the same people 
whom Nebuchadnezzar had driven from Je- 
rusalem. At a later period, they were final- 
ly expelled from their country by the Ro- 
mans, without mercy or distinction, and 
were scattered over the face of the whole in- 
habited world. And yet, at the distance of 
seventeen hundred years from their disper- 
sion, it is no more a question, whether they 
are now known as a people different from 
all other nations, than it could have been, be- 
fore Vespasian led his army to the siege of 
Jerusalem. 

They are scattered among all the nations 
of Africa, of Europe, of Asia, and of Ame- 



HO 



ON PROPHECY. 



rica ; and every where, and in every age, 
they are recognized as Jews, who form a part 
of the population of almost every state, but 
who are never confounded with any one of 
the Gentile tribes. They have, in every clime, 
and among every nation, the aspect, the man- 
ners, the distinctive characters, the usages, 
and the religion of Jews, 

Their sacrifices, and the peculiar rites and 
service of their altar, were of necessity su- 
perseded and abolished, when their temple, 
and their capital city, were destroyed by the 
decrees of God. But they have Moses and 
the prophets read in their synagogues still ; 
and, excepting the unhappy countries in which 
despotism proscribes the Jewish faith as a 
crime to be punished with death, a Jew is as 
clearly distinguished from the worshippers 
in the churches or temples of modern states, 
as if he were still an inhabitant of the plain, 
or of the mountains of Judea. 

When the people of other nations have 
either been expelled by violence from their 
native soil, or have voluntarily renounced it, 
experience has uniformly demonstrated, that, 
in the course of a few generations, the dis- 
tinctive marks of their origin are insensibly 



ON PROPHECY* 



141 



lost in the characters, the manners, and the 
usages of their adopted countries. But the 
Jews are Jews in every land ; and, with the 
exception of individuals who have deserted 
their faith, are as much a distinct people in 
the present age, as they have ever been. 

If the prophecy of Jeremiah was accom- 
plished when the Jews were restored from 
Babylon, and when the nations, who had be- 
fore oppressed them, lost their place in the 
history of the world ; if it was accomplish- 
ed when the empire of Rome was over- 
whelmed by barbarians, and the Jews were 
still a people, while the Romans were con- 
' founded with the Goths and Vandals ; if 
there be nothing in the condition of mo- 
dern states to exempt them from revolutions 
which have overwhelmed every ancient esta- 
blishment ; and if the Jews are still the sepa- 
rate people which they have ever been, — is 
it possible to read the predictions of Jere- 
miah, with all these circumstances before us, 
without relying on the authority and inspira- 
tion of the prophet ? " Though I make a full 
end, (saith the Lord) of all the nations whi- 
ther I have scattered thee, yet will I not make 
a full end of thee." 



1 42 



ON PROPHECY. 



It is not possible to examine dispassionate- 
ly the various and successive events in the 
history of so many ages, by which such pro- 
phecies, of which Christianity is not the 
subject, have been so exactly, and so won- 
derfully accomplished, without believing, 
that the Jewish prophets (by whom they 
were recorded) when they did foretell the 
history and progress of the Christian church, 
not more distant from their own times than 
some of the events to which those prophe- 
cies referred, and of much greater concern 
to the human race, are to be entirely confid- 
ed in as the true prophets of God, who spake 
not of themselves, but who " spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost." 

The prophetical history of the Jews, rea- 
lized by the actual history of the world, is a 
perpetual and indisputable pledge of the 
truth and authority of the prophetical books, 
and of all that the Jewish prophets have left 
on their record concerning the promised 
Messiah. 

The evidence of Christianity is in this way 
sustained and strengthened by the accom- 
plishment of predictions which did not di- 
rectly relate to it, by means of the establish- 



ON PROPHECY. 



143 



ed and uniform authority which it ascertains 
to have belonged to the prophets, from the 
time of Moses to the day of Christ. 

2. There were prophecies which were ori- 
ginally intended to have a double sense, or 
application ; relating primarily to the condi- 
tion of the Jews or of other ancient nations ; 
and ultimately to the history and character 
of the Christian church. 

There is a certain degree of obscurity es- 
sential to prophecy, which may be effectually 
preserved by different means, without either 
lessening its authority, or obstructing its 
accomplishment. It was easily preserved in 
typical predictions ; because all the points of 
resemblance were not intended to be clearly 
seen before the predictions were fulfilled, 
when the types and the archetypes could be 
distinctly compared. 

The prophecies of a double sense preserved 
their obscurity, by being originally applied 
to events, in which they received an early or 
subordinate accomplishment. 

The authority of the prophet was esta- 
blished when his prediction was fulfilled in 
the first events to which it related, even 
though these were in themselves of little im- 



144 



ON PROPHECY. 



portance, when compared with those which 
were chiefly in the view of the prophecy. 
Though its ultimate design was not then 
understood, it was fully ascertained, by its 
first accomplishment, to have been a genuine 
and inspired prophecy. The people having 
their attention fixed on its subordinate sub- 
ject, saw it placed on the prophetic record, 
as a new demonstration of the presence of 
the God of Israel, and of the miraculous 
providence which sustained their theocracy, 
without perceiving its remote application. 

The prophets themselves were not always 
acquainted either with the full meaning, or 
with the ultimate design of the prophecies 
entrusted to them. They spake, not from 
their own understandings, but as they were 
directed by the Spirit of God. There would of 
consequence be many instances, in which 
an inspired prophet would suppose himself 
to be chiefly employed in predicting occur- 
rences which affected the Jewish state, when 
he was unconsciously employed to foretell 
the history, or to describe the characters of 
the reign of Christ. There would be others, 
in which, though he was aware that his pre- 
diction included something more interesting 



ON PROPHECY. 



145 



and important than the events to which it 
was first applied, he did not precisely see the 
object to which he was persuaded it ultimate- 
ly referred. 

This last idea is explicitly stated by the 
apostle Peter in the text. The prophets saw 
clearly, that their predictions went beyond the 
events to which they were originally applied, 
though neither the subject to which they 
ultimately referred, nor the time of their final 
accomplishment, was distinctly made known 
to them. It was therefore necessary for 
them as well as for the people, " to inquire 
earnestly, and search what, and what man- 
ner of time, the spirit of Christ which was in 
them did signify, when it testified before- 
hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory 
that should follow." 

It was indeed " revealed to them, that not 
to themselves, but to us, they ministered the 
things which are now reported to us by the 
gospel." But still they were not exempted 
from the effects of the intentional obscurity 
under which their prophecies were veiled ; 
which, at least to a certain degree, were 
common to them and to the people. They 
saw farther into the design of their own pre- 

K 



146 



ON PROPHECY. 



dictions, on some occasions than on others $ 
but it must have often happened, that they 
saw nothing in the prophecies intended to 
have a double sense, beyond the events to 
which they were primarily applied. 

There are some examples of individual 
prophets, who, though fit instruments for 
the services appointed them, were not men 
either of approved piety or personal fidelity. 
We have one example in the character of 
Balaam, who " loved the wages of unrighte- 
ousness," and who was constrained to pro- 
phesy the truth, contrary to his own inten- 
tion. An example of the same kind is given 
us in the prophet who feigned a false revela- 
tion^ to persuade a man of God to transgress 
an injunction which he had received from 
the spirit of God ; and who was afterwards 
directed by the same spirit, to announce to 
him the consequence and the punishment of 
his disobedience.* 

I mention these facts for the sake of ano- 
ther, which applies directly to the subject I 
am now illustrating. 

When the Jewish rulers were consulting 
together on their plans for the crucifixion 

* 1 Kings, xiii. 20, 21, 22. 



ON PROPHECY. 



147 



of our Lord, the evangelist John tells us, 
that " one of them named Caiaphas, being 
the high priest that same year, said unto 
them, ye know nothing at all ; nor consider, 
that it is expedient for us, that one man 
should die for the people, and that the whole 
nation perish not." He adds, that {C this he 
spake not of himself; but being the high 
priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus 
should die for that nation ; and not for that 
nation only, but that also he should gather 
together in one the children of God that were 
scattered abroad." * 

Caiaphas had no intention to announce 
any thing relative to Jesus of Nazareth, as 
the Saviour of the world. He meant nothing 
more by the representation which he made 
to his brethren, (who had pretended that 
" the Romans would come and take away 
both their place and nation," if they should 
not interfere to resist the growing influence 
of Jesus among the multitude), than that by 
putting this individual to death, they would 
adopt a reasonable expedient to preserve the 
country and the people at large from the 
vengeance of the Romans. 



* St John, xi. 49, 50, 51, 52. 



148 



ON PROPHECY. 



This was all which he himself believed to 
have been included in the terms he employ- 
ed. But, being high priest at the time, and 
therefore permitted in his official capacity to 
announce the counsels of God,* he was on 
this occasion singled out to deliver, in terms 
which he intended to signify a very different 
thing, a most important prediction concern- 
ing the true design for which Jesus was to 
die at Jerusalem, u by the determinate coun- 
sel and foreknowledge of God." He did not 
himself perceive, that, in pronouncing an opi- 
nion as a judge, he was foretelling an event 
as a prophet, or that he spake by the secret 
influence or inspiration of God. The true 
meaning of the prediction which he was un- 
consciously employed to deliver, was equal- 
ly unknown to himself, and to those who 
heard him, though it is perfectly intelligible 
to us, after it has been explained by its ac- 
complishment. 

It ought not therefore to surprise us, that 
there should be prophecies found in the Jew- 
ish record, which the people, and even the 
prophets, understood in a sense in which 
they received a subordinate fulfilment ; and 



* See Note AA. 



ON PROPHECY. 



149 



which, at the same time, had an ultimate and 
more important meaning, which they either 
did not perceive at all, or very imperfectly 
comprehended. 

I must confine myself to a few examples ; 
but a few will be sufficient to illustrate the 
doctrine. 

The epistle to the Hebrews quotes from 
the Septuagint version * of the book of Deu- 
teronomy, a command given to the angelic 
host to worship the Messiah, in these words, 
" When he bringeth in the first begotten in- 
to the world, he saith, and let all the angels of 
God worship him." f The expressions refer- 
red to make a part of the song of Moses, and 
of the promises made to the Israelites imme- 
diately before his death, to assure them of 
protection and defence against their enemies, 
in their progress to the country of Canaan. 
Moses represents the heavens, the angels, and 
all the sons of God, as taking part with them 
in the subjugation of their enemies, and as 
worshipping with them the God who protect- 
ed them. This appears to have been the origi- 
nal sense of the language employed ; which. 



* See Note jBB. 



f Heb. i. 6. 



150 



ON PROPHECY. 



so understood, must have been in the highest 
degree interesting and consolatory to the peo- 
ple, at the moment when they were about 
to be finally deprived of the counsel and ser- 
vices of Moses, 

But when the same language is used by 
the apostle, as containing a general com- 
mand, given to the angels of God, to wor- 
ship, as their Lord and Creator, the only 
begotten of the Father, in his incarnate state, 
it has a meaning and a force, which it by 
no means possesses in its original applica- 
tion, It becomes a prophecy equally clear 
and striking, by which, under the immedi- 
ate assurance of protection to the Israelites, 
after they were to be deprived of Moses, an- 
other leader is described like to Moses, but 
of far superior power and majesty, who was 

sj "Jot.; ' . ' 

at last to rise up from among their brethren, 
to whom not only the nations around them 
were to be subjected, but whom all the an- 
gels of God were to be commanded to cele- 
brate or worship, as soon as he appeared. 

In its primary sense the prediction was 
fulfilled, when the Israelites, under the pro- 
tection of the God of Abraham, subdued 
the inhabitants of Canaan, and obtained the 



ON PROPHECY. 



151 



quiet possession of their country ; though 
this event, important as it was to the Jews, 
by no means corresponds to the ideas we re- 
ceive from the part which the language of the 
prophecy assigns to the angels, and to all the 
sons of God. 

But if we turn our attention to the ulti- 
mate application of the prophecy, which be- 
fore its accomplishment could not be fully un- 
derstood, we find the language of the prophet 
completely realized, when the angel of God, 
and with him a multitude of the heavenly 
host, .appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, 
praising God, and celebrating the birth of 
the Messiah, saying, " Behold, I bring you 
glad tidings of great joy, which shall be 
to all people ; for unto you is born this 
day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which 
is Christ the Lord : Glory to God in the 
highest, on earth peace, goodwill to men/'* 
The prophecy, quoted by the apostle after 
the event had happened to which it ultimate- 
ly referred, was not only literally verified, 
but may be read as an exact representation 
of a recorded fact in the history of the Mes- 
siah's birth : " When he bringeth in the first 



* Luke, ii. 10—14 



152 



ON PROPHECY. 



begotten into the world, he saith, and let all 
the angels of God worship him." 

The apostle Peter says, that all the pro- 
phets, from the time of Samuel, successive- 
ly prophesied of the days of the Messiah. * 
His meaning was, That from Samuel's time; 
when the schools of the prophets were esta- 
blished, (an institution to which the Jewish 
synagogues are supposed to have ultimately 
succeeded,) there was a continued series of 
recorded prophecies relating to the Messiah, 
down to the latest period of the Jewish 
Scriptures. 

The prophecies intended to have a double 
sense, may be traced from the beginning to 
the end of this series. 

An apostle quotes from the second book 
of Samuel, a declaration concerning the 
Messiah, as the Son of God, and connects it 
with a variety of prophecies relating to the 
same subject, with regard to the meaning of 
which there can be no controversy. It is in 
these words, " I will be to him a Father, and 
he shall be to me a Son." j* 

There can be no doubt, that these expres- 

* Acts 3 iii. 24. f Heb. i. 5. 2. Samuel, vii. 14. 



ON PROPHECY. 



]53 



sions were primarily applied to Solomon by 
the prophet Nathan, and that they make a part 
of a promise made to David concerning the 
establishment of his throne in the person of 
Solomon, who was destined to transmit his 
kingdom to his descendants ; whom God se- 
lected from the rest of David's family with 
paternal kindness ; and for whom the pro- 
phet declares it was reserved to build the 
temple of Jerusalem, which David himself 
was not permitted to attempt. 

It is equally clear, on the other hand, 
that the leading expressions in this predic- 
tion could only be applied to David and So- 
lomon in a subordinate sense, and were not 
capable of a literal interpretation, if they had 
referred to nothing beyond them. £ I will 
establish the throne of his kingdom for ever," 
says God in the prophecy ; 14 1 will be to him 
a Father, and he shall be to me a Son ; thine 
house and thy kingdom shall be established 
for ever before thee ; thy throne shall be 
established for ever." 

These very expressions are transcribed 
and amplified in the eighty-ninth Psalm, 
where they manifestly belong to a prophecy 
of the Christian church and of its author ; 



154 



ON PROPHECY. 



and language of the same precise import 
runs through the whole series of Old Tes- 
tament prophecy, to describe the character 
and perpetuity of the Messiah's reign. 

We can, therefore, have, no doubt of the 
soundness of the interpretation given to the 
quotation referred to, as it stands in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews ? But it is equally 
clear, that it was originally a promise made 
to David in behalf of Solomon his son ; and 
that it contains certain expressions, which 
must have been intended to apply exclu- 
sively to Solomon, and which cannot be in- 
terpreted of the Messiah. It could only 
be of Solomon that it could be said, " If he 
commit iniquity I will chasten him- — but 
my mercy shall not depart away from him, 
as I took it from Saul, whom I put away be- 
fore thee." 

The double sense of the prediction quoted 
by the apostle, is therefore as completely 
established as any thing of the kind can be. 
It did, in the first instance, apply to Solo- 
mon ; but it is ultimately and chiefly a pro- 
phecy intended to apply to Christ. 

On this point I have only to add, that 
whatever the Old Testament contains con- 

4 



ON PROPHECY. 



155 



eerning the perpetual duration of David's 
throne, is distinctly laid down in the New 
Testament, as ultimately prophetical of the 
reign of Christ, and is to be arranged with 
the prophecies intended to bear a double 
sense. What is equally striking, the descrip- 
tion in the eighth Psalm, which indisputably 
relates to the universal subjection of the in- 
ferior creatures to the dominion of man, is 
explicitly declared, in the New Testament, to 
have been ultimately intended as a predic- 
tion of the supreme authority of the Son of 
God, and of his universal dominion over all 
things in heaven and earth ; and not only as 
applicable to him, but as verified in his per- 
son, as it never was verified in the dominion 
given to the human race over the inferior 
creation. " Thou hast put all things in 
subjection under his feet.- — But now we see 
not all things put under him. But we see 
Jesus, — for the suffering of death crowned 
with glory and honour." ¥ 

The last part of the 16th Psalm is set 
down in the New Testament as a distinct 
prophecy of the resurrection and exaltation 
pf Christ. * Thou wilt not leave my soul 



* Heb. ii. 6—9. 



156 ON PROPHECY. 



in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy 
One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me 
the path of life ; in thy presence is fulness 
of joy ; at thy right hand are pleasures for 
evermore * and it is certainly clear, that 
the expressions employed could never pos- 
sess their full meaning or force when ap- 
plied to any other subject. 

We can have as little doubt, from the repre- 
sentation given of this passage by the apostle 
Peter, f that, till he explained its ultimate 
signification on the day of Pentecost, it had 
been uniformly applied by the Jews to Da- 
vid himself, and had been considered by 
them as a general assertion of the immorta- 
lity of man, and of the resurrection of the 
dead. 

Like all the prophecies of a double sense, 
the terms employed went far beyond their 
original application ; and it is affirmed by 
the apostle besides, that David himself un- 
derstood the full meaning of his own predic- 
tion, when he delivered it ; and that when he 
used the language referred to, " being a pro- 
phet, and knowing that God had sworn with 
an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins 



* Psal, xvi. 10, ] 1. + Acts, ii. 25—31. 



ON PROPHECY. 



35? 



he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." 
He seeing this before, spake " of the death, of 
the resurrection, and of the reign of Christ." 

Though he had the advantage of under- 
standing his own prediction, which every 
prophet did not possess, his more enlightened 
apprehension of the subject could not inter- 
fere with the primary sense in which his 
prophecy was intended to be interpreted, for 
ages before its ultimate accomplishment. 

It gave the Jews from his time, the most 
delightful assurance of the immortality and 
resurrection of the just; till at last it open- 
ed a new world to Jews and Gentiles, when 
the apostles asserted that its only literal and 
complete accomplishment was found in him, 
who is the resurrection and the life, u whom 
God raised up, and gave him glory, that our 
faith and hope might be in God." 

Another example may be taken from 
Isaiah's remarkable prophecy to Ahaz. 
6t Hear ye now, O house of David—said the 
Prophet — the Lord himself shall give you a 
sign : Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear 
a son, and shall call his name Immanuel : 
For before the child shall know to refuse 
the evil and choose the good, the land that 
thou abhorrest, (the kingdom of Israel in 



158 



ON PROPHECY. 



confederacy with the king of Syria,) shall 
be forsaken of both her kings." * 

When this prophecy was delivered to Ahaz 5 
his country was invaded by the kings of Sy- 
ria and Samaria, who had combined their 
force to overturn his government. 

The sign which it professed to give him of 
his final deliverance from this invasion, was 
in substance this : — That a woman, not then 
married, would conceive and bear a son ; 
and that before that son should arrive at the 
age when he could distinguish good from 
evil, Judea should be completely delivered 
from the hostile kings. There is no doubt 
that the event predicted actually happened. 
Whatever Ahaz suffered from his invaders, 
he was completely delivered from them, with- 
in the time specified by the prophet. Their 
design against his government was effectual- 
ly frustrated; and while the king of Israel 
fell a sacrifice to a conspiracy at home, f 
Ahaz transmitted his kingdom entire to He- 
zekiah his son. The original sense of the 
prophecy was thus verified, by these events, 
beyond all contradiction. 

But we learn from infallible authority, 



* Isaiah, vii, 13, 14— 16. 



f 2 Kii]gs ; xf. 30. 



OS PROPHECY. 



159 



that this singular prediction addressed to the 
house of David, though primarily fulfilled 
to Ahaz, was intended to represent, by means 
of its first accomplishment, an event far 
more astonishing in itself, and of much more 
general interest to the human race, — the 
miraculous conception and birth of the pro- 
mised Messiah, whom God was to raise up 
in the house of David, for salvation to the 
ends of the earth. 

The original fact on which the prophecy 
turned, related to the son of the prophet 
Isaiah himself, whom his wife bare to him, 
and who, besides the prophetical name, (Im- 
maiiuel,) signifying a powerful saviour, or 
" God with us," assigned to him with a view 
to the ultimate application of the prediction, 
received also a name ? to signify the speedy 
accomplishment of the prophecy, in the 
events to which it primarily referred.f 
With all these circumstances, the terms of 
the prophecy could not be literally fulfilled, 
when applied to the prophet's wife, and to 
his son, though they were sufficiently verifi- 
ed to answer the immediate purpose in the 
prophet's view, 

* Isaiah, viii. 3, 8. 

f Maher.shaUl-hashbash, — he shall hasten to his prey. 



160 



ON PROPHECY. 



Bat the ultimate application of the pro- 
phecy to the miraculous conception and 
birth of the Messiah, which supposes the 
terms in which it is expressed to be fulfilled 
with the most literal exactness, presents to 
us a predicted fact, so contrary to the order 
of nature, that it could never have been an- 
ticipated by the human imagination ; so as- 
tonishing, when an event exactly correspond- 
ing to the description given at last occurs, as 
to render the connection between the prophe- 
cy and its fulfilment irresistibly convincing. 
The subordinate accomplishment of the pre- 
diction to Ahaz, is undeniably certain. But 
its literal and ultimate fulfilment, was only to 
be found at the time predicted for the mis- 
sion of the Messiah, when the eternal Father 
" brought in the first begotten in to the world." 

Such a prophecy, so inconceivable before- 
hand, and placed at the distance of ages 
from the event to which it first related, is a 
recorded sign from the throne of Omnipo- 
tence, which nothing but the ultimate cer- 
tainty of the facts signified could have truly 
interpreted, that Jesus (whose name expres- 
ses in substance, the same idea with the " Im- 
manuel" of the prophet,) 56 conceived in the 
womb of a virgin, by the power of the Holy 



ON PROPHECY. 



161 



Ghost," is indeed the Christ, the son of the 
living God ; " the seed of the woman" who 
was predicted, from the fall of man, " to 
bruise the serpent's head ;" the great Imma- 
nuel, " God with us." 

I shall mention only one example more. 
The apostle Paul quoted from Habakkuk to 
the synagogue of Antioch, a prophecy of the 
days of the Messiah, of which some expres- 
sions are evidently taken from the book of 
Isaiah, though the chief reference intended 
is to the prophecy of Habakkuk. 

In its original form, the prediction indis- 
putably relates to the fierce and vindictive 
ravages of the Chaldeans, described in the 
following terms : " I work a work in your 
days, which ye will not believe though it be 
told you ; for lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, 
that bitter and hasty nation, which shall 
march through the breadth of the land, tQ 
possess the dwelling-places that are not 
theirs."* 

This prophecy was literally fulfilled, when 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, assaulted 
Jerusalem, and took it, while both the king 

* Habakkuk, i. 5, 6. 

L 



ON PROPHECY. 



and the people were utterly unprepared for 
his invasion ; binding Jehoiakim the king 
in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.* The 
strong expressions which are used by Ha- 
bakkuk, have a striking correspondence 
with the event which Jeremiah represented, 
at the time when the prophecy received its 
primary fulfilment, with every circumstance 
to aggravate it, as a judicial and most unex- 
pected catastrophe, f 

The Apostle Paul, without mentioning its 
primary signification, applies the same pro=» 
phecy to the resistance given to the gospel, 
when it was published to Jews and Gentiles 
in the name of the crucified Messiah : " Be- 
ware, therefore, lest that come upon you 
which is spoken of in the prophets : Behold, 
ye despisers, and wonder, and perish ; for I 
work a work in your days, a work which ye 
shall in no wise believe, though a man de- 
clare unto you." J He finds its ultimate ful- 
filment in the obstinate unbelief of the Jews, 
who, with equal astonishment and incredu- 
lity, heard the Apostles proclaim Jesus of 

* 2 Chron. xxxvi. 5, 6, 

f Jeremiah, xxii. 18, 19 ; and xxxvi; 30. 2 Kings, xxti. I. 
1 Acts xiii. 40, 41. 

4 



ON PROPHECY. 



163 



Nazareth to have been the Messiah of the 
prophets ; an event which, in all its circum- 
stances, was far more wonderful, in the view 
both of those who received, and of those 
who rejected Christianity, than that to which 
it originally related. 

They to whom the prophecy was first de- 
livered, must, of necessity, have confined 
their ideas of it to its primary design, espe- 
cially when they saw its first accomplishment 
completed so soon after it was announced. 

But it assumes quite a different form, and 
acquires a far different interest, when we 
find the apostle transferring its signification 
from the days of Jehoiakim to the days of 
the Messiah ; and contemplate the events in 
the history of the gospel, by which he af- 
firms it to have been literally verified, when 
the preaching of the cross, though sustained 
both by the force of truth and the power of 
miracles, became " to the Jews a stumbling- 
block, and to the Greeks foolishness." Won- 
derful as the work of redemption is, it has 
at all times been accounted foolishness by 
those who have rejected it, though to them 
who believe, it is the wisdom and the power 
of God. The clearest demonstrations of 



164 



ON PROPHECY. 



the facts on which Christianity is found- 
ed, an obstinate incredulity rejects ; and 
the prediction of the prophet, as well as the 
apostolical complaint against the Jews, have 
too often been fatally verified among both 
Jews and Gentiles. " I work a work in your 
days, which ye shall in nowise believe ; — 
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost ; as 
your fathers resisted, so do ye." 

These examples are sufficient to give a ge- 
neral idea of the prophecies which were ori- 
ginally intended to have a double sense; 
prophecies which may be distinctly ascer- 
tained to have had this character, both from 
the manifest extension of the terms in which 
they are conceived beyond their original 
subject, and from the direct application made 
of them by the writers of the NewTestamenu 

They are not recorded according to any 
rule, or arranged in any order which human 
invention could have devised. They are 
scattered through every part of the ancient 
scriptures, and many of them have no 
perceptible reference to each Gther. They 
are frequently found as detached clauses 
in a writing which relates to other sub- 
jects ; and are distinguished as genuine 



ON PROPHECY. 



165 



predictions of Christianity, either by the 
direct information of the New Testament, 
or by their manifest relation to the events to 
which they were ultimately intended to ap- 
ply, rather than by any key to their mean- 
ing or substance, furnished by the original 
discourse or narrative in which they are 
inserted. 

These circumstances create specious ob- 
jections with superficial thinkers, against the 
authority of prophecy ; when, in truth, if 
the whole subjecc were understood, they add 
greatly to the weight and clearness of the 
argument derived from it. 

When a prediction was intended to have 
an ultimate as well as a primary significa- 
tion, it is evident, that the place assigned to 
it in the record, must have been regulated, 
not by its remote, but by its first application. 
It must have stood in its natural order in 
the history or writing of which it makes a 
part, and could not have been otherwise 
placed, without losing its original meaning 
and design. It was as essential to the spirit of 
prophecy, that every prediction should have 
been clearly connected with the events to 
which it primarily related, as that its ulti- 



166 



ON PROPHECY. 



mate application should not have been per- 
mitted to interfere with the ordinary course 
of human affairs, or with the free agency of 
mankind. 

Keeping these circumstances in view, it 
can scarcely be questioned, that if, in fair 
construction, the prophecies which I have 
specified, and others of the same kind, bear 
the interpretation ascribed to them, Christ- 
ianity has derived from them a very con- 
siderable degree both of evidence and au- 
thority. 

A single prediction to which a double 
sense could be affixed, might have been re- 
garded as containing nothing more than an 
accidental coincidence, which would have 
led to no general conclusion. But we are 
entitled to reason very differently, from a 
long continued series of prophecies having 
the same character ; clearly fulfilled in the 
primary events to which they related, and 
yet containing circumstances which mani- 
festly went beyond them ; applied to Christ- 
ianity in the New Testament, and not only 
capable of receiving the interpretation which 
is there affixed to them, but assuming a much 
more natural and interesting form when so 



ON PROPHECY. 



167 



applied, than when they are limited to their 
primary signification. 

It is only on such a series of these prophe- 
cies that any sound argument can be built. 
A regular succession of them (supposing the 
view which has been given of a few examples 
to have been in any degree correct) is not to 
be explained on any other supposition, than 
that Christianity was in preparation during 
every period of the ancient church ; and 
that even when the prophets were employed 
on subjects which immediately affected the 
condition of the Jews, it frequently happen- 
ed^ that their predictions were chiefly intend- 
ed, and were overruled by the wisdom of 
God, to record and to " minister the things 
which are now reported to us by the Gos- 
pel." 

The existence of such prophecies in the 
Jewish record, from the commencement to 
the close of the ancient dispensation, the cer- 
tainty of their primary accomplishment, and 
at the same time their exact correspondence, 
in their secondary interpretation^ the events 
to which the New Testament has applied 
them, supposing these facts to be admitted 5 



168 



ON PROPHECY, 



must be allowed to form an argument equal- 
ly clear and forcible. . 

In stating this conclusion, I leave out of 
view the inspiration of the New Testa- 
ment, and merely consider its references to 
prophecies of the Old Testament, as facts 
contained in a narrative allowed to be au- 
thentic. 

I do not pretend to say, that prophecies of 
the double sense furnish an argument of the 
same force, with prophecies on the same 
subjects which have only a single and uni- 
form meaning. But I affirm, that, when a 
long series of prophecies, which have this 
double application, is united to a similar suc- 
cession of prophecies, which exclusively re- 
late to the same events, and uniformly bear 
on the same points, they must add greatly 
to the weight of the general conclusion re* 
suiting from both. Their uniform coinci- 
dence is an argument by itself, that both 
have proceeded from the same source, and 
that both are soundly interpreted. 

But it is yet to be stated,. 

3. That there are prophecies which were 
originally intended to relate to Christianity 



ON PROPHECY. 



169 



alone, and which cannot be intelligibly ap- 
plied to any other subject. 

The prophecies of this description, though 
they are more precise and definite than those 
of the preceding class, are not exempted 
from the obscurity, which every authentic 
prediction of future events must preserve, so 
as not to interfere with the ordinary course of 
Providence. The spirit of prophecy required 
no more in the plainest and most direct 
predictions of the Messiah, than that, though 
originally so far obscure, as not to derange 
the order of human affairs, they should have 
been so clear and intelligible, after their ac- 
complishment , as to be then distinctly seen 
to have described the events to which they 
were intended to relate. 

This essential character belongs to the 
whole series of the prophecies of which 
Christianity is the only subject ; and a part 
of the series may be easily collected, suffi- 
cient to illustrate this fact, as well as the ge- 
neral argument. 

It begins with the original apostasy of 
man, and does not terminate till the canon 
of the Old Testament is completed. u The 
seed of the woman shall bruise the head of 



370 



ON PROPHECY. 



the serpent," was the first declaration made 
on the subject, after the fall of man ; and it 
■was first announced to the serpent by whom 
the woman was betrayed. A promise is made 
to Abraham, two thousand years after this 
time, which confines the descent of the pre- 
dicted <c seed of the woman" to his family 5 
— a promise which is renewed to Jacob 
in the same terms an hundred years after, 
and which, in like manner, limits it to the fa- 
mily of Jacob. " In thee, and in thy seed, 
shall all the families of the earth be bles-? 
sed."* 

It is the same prediction, in a differ- 
ent form, which is delivered by Moses, four 
hundred years after Jacob's death ; <c The 
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
prophet from the midst of thee, of thy bre- 
thren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall heark- 
en f a prophecy which, long before the 
application made of it in the New Testament, 
was clearly understood by the Jews to relate 
to the Messiah, and to be equally inapplica^ 
ble to Joshua, the immediate successor of 
Moses, and to any subsequent succession of 

* Genesis, xxiii. 18. xxviii. 14. 

+ Deuteronomy, xiriii. 15. Acts, iii. 22, 



ON PROPHECY. 



171 



Jewish prophets. The last verses in the 
book of Deuteronomy * (written at a later 
period than the rest of the book,) clearly ex- 
press this idea ; " Joshua, the son of Nun, 
was full of the spirit of wisdom ; for Moses 
had laid his hands upon him ; — And there 
arose not a prophet since, in Israel, like unto 
Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face," 
A remarkable prediction is found in the First 
Book of Chronicles, both of the lineage, and 
of the supreme authority of the Messiah. 
" The genealogy is not to be reckoned after 
the birth-right ; for Judah prevailed above 
his brethren, and of him came the chief 
ruler." This may, perhaps, be an example 
of a prediction of the double sense, applica- 
ble, in the first instance, to the family of 
David. But most certainly its full meaning 
is verified in the Messiah alone. *j* 

It is of the same person that the following 
predictions are delivered to David himself, as 
a prophet, and as the ancestor and representa- 
tive of the Messiah, five hundred years after 
the time of Moses. a I have made a covenant 
with my chosen ; I have sworn unto David 

* Deuteronomy, xxxiy. 9, 10. f 1. Chron. v. 1, 2. 



172 



ON PROPHECY. 



my servant : Thy seed will I establish for 
ever, and build up thy throne to all genera- 
tions ; my mercy will I keep with him for 
qvermore, and my covenant shall stand fast 
with him. His seed also will I make to en- 
dure for ever, and his throne as the days of 
Heaven* His throne shall endure as the 
sun before me ; it shall be established for 
ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness 

in Heaven. * /The Lord said unto my 

Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I 
make thine enemies thy footstool ; — the Lord 
shall send the rod of thy strength out of 
Zion : Rule thou in the midst of thine ene- 
mies.' 9 f 

The exclusive application of these prophe- 
cies, in the New Testament, to the Messiah, 
renders a particular illustration of their ge- 
nuine and original meaning altogether unne- 
cessary. X They are applicable to the Mes- 
siah alone, and are not intelligible if ap- 
plied to any other subject. 

Three hundred years after the date of 
these predictions, Isaiah prophesied with 
singular precision and minuteness, of the 

* Psal. Ixxxix. 3, 4, 28, 29, 36, 37. + Psal. ex. 1, 2, 3. 
+ See Luke, i. 32, 33. Matth. xxii. 42—45. 



ON PROPHECY. 



173 



history, the offices, the character, and the 
sufferings of the person to whom all these 
former predictions referred. " Unto us a 
child is born, unto us a Son is given, and 
the government shall be upon his shoulders ; 
and his name shall be called, Wonderful, 
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting 
Father (or the father of the age to come,) the 
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his go- 
vernment and peace there shall be no end, 
upon the throne of David, and upon his 
kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with 
judgment and with justice, from henceforth, 
even for ever." * — " There shall come forth 
a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and the spi- 
rit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spi- 
rit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit 
of counsel and might, the spirit of know- 
ledge, and of the fear of the Lord ; and shall 
make him of quick understanding in the fear 
of the Lord. With righteousness shall he 
judge the poor, and reprove with equity the 
meek of the earth ; and he shall smite the 
earth with the rod of his mouth ; and right- 
eousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and 



* Isaiah, viii. 6, 7. 



174 



OS PKOPHECY. 



faithfulness the girdle of his reins : The wolf 
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
shall lie down with the kid. — They shall not 
hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; 
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
theLord, as the waters cover the sea." *— " He 
shall grow up before the Lord as a tender 
plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. — 
He is despised and. rejected of men, a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief : — Sure- 
ly he hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken, 
smitten of God, and afflicted : But he was 
wounded for our transgressions ; he was 
bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement 
of our peace was upon him, and with his 
stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, 
have gone astray ;^-and the Lord hath laid on 
him the iniquity of us all. He was oppres- 
sed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not 
his moutb. He is brought as a lamb to the 
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shear- 
ers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth : 
He was taken from prison and from judg- 
ment ; — he was cut off out of the land of 



* Isaiah, xi. 1 — 9. 



ON PROPHEC\\ 



175 



the living ; for the transgression of my peo- 
ple was he stricken (or, was he smitten to 
death:) And he made his grave with the 
wicked, and with the rich in his death ; (or, 
his grave was appointed with the wicked, 
but with the rich man was his tomb;)* 
because he had done no violence, neither 
was any deceit in his mouth : Yet it pleased 
the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to 
grief ; When thou shalt make his soul an of- 
fering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall 
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the 
Lord shall prosper in his hand : He shall 
see of the travail of his soul and shall be sa- 
tisfied : By his knowledge, (or by the know- 
ledge of him), f shall my righteous servant 
justify many; for he shall bear their iniqui- 
ties : Therefore will I divide him a portion 
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil 
with the strong ; because he hath poured out 
his soul unto death ; and he was numbered 
with the transgressors ; and he bare the sin 
of many, and made intercession for the 
transgressors." J 



* Lowth's Translation. 
t Isaiah, liii. 2—12. 



+ Lowth, 



176 



ON PROPHECY. 



These predictions require no commentary ; 
for to us, who are acquainted with their ful- 
filment, they have more the appearance of a 
narrative of past events, than of a prophe- 
tical revelation. They have never been in- 
telligibly applied to any other person than 
the promised Messiah ; and though the Jews 
have often endeavoured to explain away the 
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, by representing 
it as a general description of calamities to 
befal the Jewish people, and of their ultimate 
restoration, they have been so completely 
unsuccessful, that every attempt of this kind 
has only served to demonstrate, beyond all 
contradiction, that the description contained 
in this chapter, which involves neither a 
double sense nor any figure which can be 
represented as of difficult interpretation, ap- 
plies to the Messiah alone, is an exact de- 
scription of real events in his history, and 
has in every point been verified in the person 
of Jesus of Nazareth. 

The antiquity and authenticity of Isaiah's 
prophecies, written seven hundred years be- 
fore Christ was born, is not to be contro- 
verted : And, if it be possible to derive any 
argument from prophecy, in any circum- 

5 



0S T PROPHECV. 



177 



stances, the argument resulting from thenci 
is completely established. * 

Micah prophesied nearly at the same time 
with Isaiah ; and we find him representing 
the birth of the Messiah at Bethlehem, sub- 
stantially in the same terms which the Evan- 
gelists have applied to that event ; and which, 
considering the apparently accidental cir- 
cumstances which brought Joseph and Mary 
to Bethlehem at the time of his birth, 
must be regarded as a most remarkable 
prediction, which could only have proceeded 
from the foreknowledge of Omniscience. 
u Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be 
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out 
of thee shall he come forth unto me that is 
to be Ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth 
have been from of old, from everlasting," \ 

It was above an hundred and fifty years 
after the age of Micah and Isaiah, when Da- 
niel prophesied of the same person, and most 
distinctly connected with the death of the 
Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem and 
the Temple, and the final overthrow of the 

* Sec Palcy's Evidences, Vol. II. ch. i. See also Acts, Tiii, 
28—35. 

' Micah, v. 2 ; Matthew, ii. 6. 

M 



178 



ON PROPHECY. 



Jewish State. ?! After threescore and two 
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for 
himself ; and the people of the prince that 
shall come, shall destroy the city and the 
sanctuary ; and the end thereof shall be with 
a flood, and unto the end of the war deso- 
lations are determined-" * This prediction, 
recorded upwards of five hundred years be- 
fore its fulfilment, represents, with perfect 
exactness, not only the death of the Messiah, 
and the precise time fixed for it, (viz. three- 
score and two weeks of years after Jerusalem 
was to be rebuilt), connected with the singu- 
lar fact, that he was to be cut off, and not for 
himself but* at the same time, the complete 
and final subversion of the Jewish common- 
wealth by the invasion of a foreign prince, 
with circumstances of peculiar aggravation, 
as an event which was to follow, at no re- 
mote period, after the Messiah's death. The 
exactness with which both these events are 
foretold by Daniel, is a monument equally 
striking and incontrovertible, of the authen- 
ticity of Jewish prophecy, as well as of the 
evidence which Christianity certainly derives 
from the indisputable accomplishment of 



* Daniel, ix. 26. 



ON PROPHECY. 



179 



this remarkable prediction. * The fulfil- 
ment of this prophecy, and of other prophe- 
cies recorded by Daniel, is so clear and in- 
controvertible, that some of the earliest -un- 
believers could find no argument against 
them, but the utterly unfounded assumption, 
that they must have been written after the 
events predicted, f 

At the termination of the Babylonish cap- 
tivity, Zechariah prophesied of the Messiah, 
in these remarkable words : " Rejoice great- 
ly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter 
of Jerusalem ; behold thy King cometh unto 
thee ; he is just, and having salvation, lowly 
and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the 
foal of an ass." 

Is it possible to imagine a prediction more 
completely verified than this was, when our 
Lord's disciples brought him a young ass, 
and set him thereon ; and when " the whole 
multitude of the disciples began to rejoice 
and praise God with a loud voice, for all the 
mighty works that they had seen, saying, 
Blessed be the king that cometh in the name 

* See Note CC. 

4 Porphyry, who did make this assertion, but attempts to 
support it by what was certainly an apocryphal addition to 
the Book of Daniel. 



180 



ON PROPHECY. 



of the Lord ; peace in heaven, and glory in 
the highest." 

To shew that this prediction did not pro- 
duce its own accomplishment, the evangelist 
John has related, that 6C These things un- 
derstood not his disciples at the first ; but 
that when Jesus was glorified, then remem- 
bered they that these things were written 
of him, and that they had done those things 
unto him." * 

The last of the Jewish prophets, Malachi, 
prophesied three hundred years after Isaiah, 
and a hundred and fifty after Daniel ; and 
he describes the messenger who was to go 
before the Messiah, the Messiah himself, 
and the dispensation of religion to be esta- 
blished by him, in the following words: 
" Behold I will send my messenger, and he 
shall prepare the way before me ; and the 
Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to 
his temple, even the messenger of the cove- 
nant whom ye delight in : Behold he shall 
come, saith the Lord of Hosts — and he shall 
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver ; and he 
shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them 
as gold and silver, that they may offer unto 

* Zechariahj ix. 9. Luke ? xix. 35 — 38. John, xii. 16. 



ON PROPHECY. 



181 



the Lord an offering in righteousness.*^-Un- 
to you that fear my name, shall the Sun of 
Righteousness arise, with healing in his 
wings." 

Malachi's prophecy was fulfilled in the 
history of John the Baptist and of Christ him- 
self ; but it is not necessary for me to illus- 
trate the exactness of its accomplishment, or 
the justness of the description which it con- 
tains of the spirit and character of the Christ- 
ian dispensation. Isaiah had prophesied of 
the Baptist, as well as Malachi ; *f and when 
John appeared, he described himself, and the 
peculiar office assigned him, in the very same 
terms which had been employed by those pro- 
phets. J In like manner, the Messiah came 
to the temple at Jerusalem, as the prophet 
Malachi had foretold ; and the direct objects 
of his mission were, to establish a pure and 
everlasting priesthood, (of which the Leviti- 
cal institutions were only types and shadows) 
to which Jews and Gentiles should have the 
same access ; and, as the sun of righteous- 
ness, to shed the light of life on the nations 
of the earth, to comfort them who mourn, 
and to heal the broken heart. 

* Malachi, iii. 1—3. and iv. 2. t Isaiah, xl, 3. + Matt, iii, 3. 



182 



ON PROPHECY. 



Admitting the general design of this pro- 
phecy, its interpretation is obvious, as soon 
as the terms in which it is conceived are fair- 
ly compared with the circumstances which 
ascertain its completion. 

There is a most remarkable prediction, 
which I have hitherto left untouched, though 
it is one of the most important on the Jewish 
record. It occurs in the last address of Ja- 
cob to his sons ; an address which ought to 
be considered, not merely as a paternal be- 
nediction, but as containing besides, both an 
authoritative arrangement and a prophetical 
representation of the condition of his de- 
scendants, for a succession of ages. The 
prophecy relates to Judah and his posterity, 
and is expressed in these words : " The 
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the 
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh 
come ; and unto him shall the gathering of 
the people be." * 

The leading event predicted, is the coming 
of a personage under the name of " Shiloh 
and whether this name shall be understood 
to signify a the peacemaker," or " the per- 



* Genesis, xlix. 10. 



ON PROPHECY. 



183 



sbn sent," or <c the blessed seed," or <c the 
end," (for it has received all these different 
interpretations) * its general meaning will be 
in substance the same ; — that the sceptre 
should not depart from Judah, nor the law- 
giver from between his feet, till the Messiah 
should come, the great peacemaker, the pro- 
mised seed, who was to establish a dispensa- 
tion of grace and salvation, which was ulti- 
mately to supersede the institutions of Mo- 
ses. 

The meaning of the term 61 sceptre" is 
only to be ascertained by the circumstances 
in which it was employed. The original 
word is not uniformly translated 6i sceptre," 
even in Jacob's address to his sons. In ad- 
dressing " Dan," f he said, " Dan shall judge 
his people, as one of the tribes (or sceptres) 
of Israel ;" the same word being there trans- 
lated " tribes," which in the address to Ju- 
dah is rendered " sceptre." It is frequently 
so translated in the septuagint version. J 

The sons of Jacob had hitherto lived with 
him, as members of one family, under him- 
self as their common head. But after his 

* Wagenscil, Saurin, the LXX, Le Clerk, &c. 

+ V. 16. + 1 Samuel, x. 10, 20.— 1 Kings, xi. 13, #c. 



184 ON PROPHECY. 

death they were to separate, and to become 
heads of different tribes. By the original 
constitution of their commonwealth, they 
were to have no king but the God of Israel ; 
and under the theocracy, each of Jacob's sons, 
and their male representatives, were to have 
the exclusive internal government of their 
respective tribes. It is from this circum- 
stance that we read of - the princes of each 
tribe, according to their father's house ;" * of 
" the princes of Israel, heads of the houses 
of their fathers," f and of 4< the heads of the 
children of Israel.";): The patriarchal autho- 
rity, originally confined to Jacob himself, 
was thus distributed among his sons, and 
transmitted to their descendants. 

The heads, or princes, or elders, of the se- 
veral tribes, had each the rule or government 
within their tribes respectively, and the heads 
of each tribe had, in this sense, their own 
sceptre, as well as " the princes of Judah." 

Even when a king was given to the Israel- 
ites, contrary to their original conscitution, 
their government was still aristocratical, and 
not a monarchy. The king came in place 



* Numbers, x\ii. 6, 
f Numbers^ xiii. 3. 



J Numbers, vii. 2, 



ON PBOPHECY. 



185 



of the Judges, to determine questions of ge- 
neral interest, or questions of difficulty in 
the last resort ; and his only function be- 
sides was, to become the common leader of 
all the tribes, when they went forth to 
battle. * Even the term " lawgiver," in this 
prophecy, relates not to the power of enact- 
ing laws, (for the laws of the Jews were fix^ 
ed and permanent, by the authority of God, 
and under God they had no lawgiver but 
Moses), but to the authority within the tribe, 
which executed and enforced the established 
laws. 

According to this detail, the substance of 
Jacob's prophecy relating to Judah was to 
this effect ; — That though each of the twelve 
tribes was to have its own sceptre from the 
first, the sceptre of Judah, and the power to 
execute the Mosaical laws, was to remain 
with him, long after the other tribes should 
have lost their sceptres, (or the rights of go- 
vernment among themselves) and should 
have been driven from the promised land — 
That, though the tribe of Benjamin was not 
to be included in the defection of the ten 
tribes, yet that, from the time of the disper- 

* See 1 Samuel, Tiii. 20. 



186 



ON PROPHECY. 



sion of the ten tribes, Judah was to become 
the centre of union, not only for the tribes 
of Benjamin and Levi, who were to remain 
with him, but for all that should remain 
in Canaan of the ten tribes ; and that, from 
that period, all the descendants of Jacob 
who should continue in the country, were to 
be known by the general name of Jews ; — - 
That by this designation they were to be 
described during the whole period of the 
Babylonish captivity, and after their subse- 
quent return to Judea ; and that Judah was 
destined to preserve within itself, both the 
government and the peculiar law of Ju- 
daism, long after the separate governments of 
the other tribes should have completely dis- 
appeared ; — That the government or scep- 
tre of Judah should thus be upheld or pro- 
tected, till " Shiloh" or the Messiah should 
appear — and that from that period, and not 
till then, {t the sceptre would depart from 
Judah," as it would long before have de- 
parted from the other tribes. * 

Whether this precise view, or any similar 
interpretation of Jacob's prediction shall be 

* This is rather a paraphrase than an exact statement of the 
prophecy ; but it expresses at length what seems to have been 
its general meaning. 



ON PROPHECY. 



187 



adopted, there can be no doubt of its exact 
and complete accomplishment. 

The tribe of Judah stood at the head of all 
the descendants of Jacob who remained in 
Canaan, after the dispersion of the ten tribes. 
They were universally known during the 
seventy years of captivity at Babylon, by the 
general designation -of Jews. When they 
returned, they were joined by many descen- 
dants from all the twelve tribes ;* and under 
the general description of Jews, they pre- 
served the government and laws of Judea 
entire, not only till after the Messiah appear- 
ed, and till after his death, but till after 
Christianity had been promulgated by the 
apostles, and was spread through the Ro- 
man empire. Judah's sceptre was still pre- 
served ; the Jews were still governed by 
their own laws ; and though Judea was now 

* The Samaritans are not here alluded to. They were a 
mixed people ; and though there were among them descendants 
of the ten tribes, they never had the designation of Jews. 
But all the tribes had descendants in the country, who came 
up to Jerusalem to worship, and were known by the general 
name of Jews. See Acts xxvi. 7, " Unto which promise our 
twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to 
corae.' , 



188 



ON PROPHECY. 



a Roman province, their laws, civil and reli- 
gious, were still administered by themselves. 

But the ultimate design of the prophecy- 
was then attained ; and from this time the 
Jewish state visibly declined, and gradually 
approached the destined period of its final 
dissolution. Forty years after the publica- 
tion of the gospel, Jerusalem and the temple 
were completely demolished by the Romans, 
and the Jews were universally scattered over 
the face of the world. 

No prediction could have been more liter- 
ally accomplished. Judah preserved his 
sceptre for ages, after the other tribes had 
disappeared. " The gathering" of all the 
tribes was to him, from the captivity of the 
ten tribes, to the age of the Messiah. But 
after the Messiah was come, Judah also be- 
gan to lose his place, till at length the Jews 
i were finally driven from Judea. 

(C Shiloh" came ; and salvation was pub- 
lished in his name to all the world. " The 
gathering of the people," was from that time 
to him ; and Jews and Gentiles without dis- 
tinction were under him united into one bo- 
dy. The barbarians, the Scythians, the bond 
and the free, when they embraced the faith of 



OX PROPHECY. 



189 



the Messiah, were no more strangers and 
foreigners, but " fellow-citizens with the 
saints, and of the household of God." 

This prophecy was most certainly fulfil- 
led in its utmost extent. " The sceptre of 
Judah" did not depart, nor did Judah lose 
the power to execute the Mosaical law with- 
in the original seat of the Jewish govern- 
ment " till Shiloh came." But the govern- 
ment of Judah, from that time, lost its vigour, 
and was in a few years completely subvert- 
ed. The Jews were finally expelled from 
Judea, with every circumstance of judicial 
publicity. The tribes of Israel, scattered to 
the ends of the earth, though still distinct 
from every other people, were no longer dis- 
tinguished among themselves ; and the great 
purpose of the distinction being now attain- 
ed, even Judah itself was no more a tribe. 

An argument founded on a prediction, 
which stood on the written record of the 
Jews for upwards of seventeen hundred 
years before its completion ; which was at 
last unquestionably and literally fulfilled ; 
and of which the fulfilment was so conspicu- 
ous, as to form a great asra in the history of 



190 



ON PROPHECY. 



the world, is certainly of the most forcible 
kind. 

No controversy can be maintained with 
regard to the antiquity of the prophecy ; 
nor can any degree of critical scepticism 
render its general meaning doubtful. It is 
as impossible, on the other hand, to question 
the facts to which it has been applied. And 
if the interpretation given of the prophecy* 
or any similar interpretation, shall be admit- 
ted, the connection between the prediction 
and the events to which it is applied, is as 
completely established, as any relation which 
can be specified between almost any pre- 
diction on record, and its literal accomplish- 
ment.* 

In the few examples which I have at- 
tempted to illustrate, I have selected prophe- 
cies, of which the application to Christianity 
is so obvious, that we, w 7 ho are acquainted 
with the events in which we find their com- 
pletion, perceive it almost at first view, and 
are prepared to admit, that, as prophecies, 
they are both explicit and impressive. 
Though they were taken separately they 

* See Note BD. 



6 



ON PROPHECY. 



191 



would be so. They would have been so, 
though they had been delivered but a few 
years before their completion. 

But most certainly the evidence which 
they afford us is far more complete, when 
we consider them as belonging to one conti- 
nued series of prophecy concerning the same 
person and the same events ; carried on, 
sometimes at near, and sometimes at re- 
moter intervals, from the beginning of the 
world to the close of the ancient revela- 
tion. 

The prophecies, of which I have given 
the preceding examples, are strictly connect- 
ed together. Some of them are certainly 
more explicit than others, but each of them 
reflects some degree of light on the rest ; 
and the whole, when presented in one view, 
form a body of evidence for the truth of 
Christianity, far more convincing than any 
proof which can result from the accomplish- 
ment of the clearest single prophecies, when 
taken by themselves, unconnected with the 
rest of the series. 

The series of prophecy is to be traced 
back, from the last revelation made to the 
aged Simeon, at the time of our Lord's birth, 



192 



ON PROPHECY* 



not only through the whole history of Ju- 
daism, to the times of Moses and the patri- 
archs, but beyond them all, to the original 
fall of man. 

An event by which any distinct prediction 
is clearly accomplished* is undoubtedly a 
forcible proof in support of the doctrine to 
which the prophecy or the event relates. 
Our Lord and his apostles quote many single 
prophecies, and apply them successfully, as 
the occasions occur, to the person and the 
history of Christ, and to the Gospel promul- 
gated in his name. But most certainly this 
is not evidence of the same extent or magni- 
tude, as that which arises from the whole 
series of prophetic revelations, beginning 
with the books of Moses, and terminating 
with the latest of the Jewish predictions, 
when these are stated and combined, as 
forming one great and extended plan, for 
the gradual introduction of the Messiah's 
reign. 

It was this comprehensive view of the 
subject, which our Lord took with his dis- 
ciples after his resurrection, when * he be- 
gan at Moses and all the prophets, and ex- 
pounded in all the Scriptures the things con- 



4 



ON PROPHECY. 



193 



cerning himself ;" * and which the apostle 
Peter afterwards presented to the Jews, when 
he defended the authority of the Gospel, 
from ** what God had spoken by the mouth 
of all his holy prophets since the world be- 
gan.'; f 

It is this general idea of ancient prophecy, 
which, however imperfectly, I have endea- 
voured to illustrate. 

I have first represented the predictions, 
which had no reference to any thing beyond 
the events in the condition of the Jews to 
which they were primarily applied ; and 
have shewn, that the experienced and literal 
fulfilment of these predictions, from the be- 
ginning to the end of the ancient dispensa- 
tion, was a visible and perpetual pledge, not 
only of the authority of the national history 
of the Jews, but of the final accomplish- 
ment of every other prediction on their re- 
cord ; and that in this light we are bound to 
regard it, as long as the Jewish Scriptures are 
to be considered as containing an authentic 
narrative. 

I have next endeavoured to illustrate the 

* Luke, xxiv. 27. f Acts, iii. 2K 



194 



GN PROPHECY. 



* 



prophecies, which, originally intended to 
have a double sense, related primarily to the 
condition of the Jews, and ultimately to the 
history of Christianity. I have shewn that 
prophecies of this description run through 
the whole series of the Old Testament scrip- 
tures ; and that they have been as distinctly 
verified in their ultimate as in their first ap- 
plication. However difficult their interpre- 
tation might have been, without the illus- 
trations given of them in the New Testament 
scriptures, and without the aid of more ex- 
plicit and direct predictions, I have shewn 
that, supported, as they are, by the language 
uniformly held both by the succession of 
prophets under the Old Testament, and un- 
der the New Testament by Christ and his 
apostles, they at the same time add a very 
considerable degree of weight to the general 
argument from prophecy, and present to us 
a most striking and interesting view of a 
great and consistent plan, which the wisdom 
of God has interwoven with the history of 
the world, hid from ages and generations," 
and at length clearly revealed by the Gospel. 

Last of all, I have stated the prophecies 
which were originally intended to refer to 



ON PROPHECY. 



19o 



Christianity alone, and which can be intelli- 
bly applied to no other subject. I have 
shewn how literally they have been verified 
in the history of the Gospel, and how impos- 
sible it would be to account for the exact 
correspondence between these predictions and 
their accomplishment, on any other suppo- 
sitions, than the inspiration of the ancient 
prophets, and the truth of the Christian 
faith. 

Though it must be observed, that, in 
each of those classes of prophecy there is 
a continued series of predictions, uniform- 
ly carried on, during the whole period of 
the ancient dispensation, it is equally ob- 
vious, that the argument would not be the 
same, if the predictions of any one class 
were separated from the rest. We would 
not have the same confidence in the relation 
of Judaism to Christianity, if we had only 
the predictions which apply exclusively to 
the Jews, how clearly soever they might 
demonstrate the authority of the Jewish his- 
tory, or of the Jewish law. The prophecies 
of the double sense would be far from giv- 
ing us the satisfaction we derive from them, 
if they stood alone on the Old Testament 



196 



ON PROPHECY. 



record ; neither connected with prophecies 
which related to the Jewish commonwealth, 
and to no other subject, nor supported by 
predictions which apply directly and exclu- 
sively to the events to which they ultimately 
referred. 

But when the prophecies of all the three 
classes are united, and we see the series com- 
plete in them all, from the beginning of the 
world to the date of Christianity ; — when 
we discover that the most remote allusions 
in the obscurer prophecies, uniformly ac- 
cord, if they are fairly tried, with the clearer 
and most explicit predictions, and, what is 
of much more importance, with the events 
to which both are applied • — when, amidst 
all the obscurity which prophetic revelation 
requires, we see one grand object uniformly 
kept in view, to which all the prophecies, the 
earliest and the latest on record, are more or 
less subservient ; — when we see the most 
minute circumstances either in the most an- 
cient or in the most obscure predictions, ul- 
timately illustrated or verified by the most 
unexpected events — it is impossible not to 
admit, that if it were conceivable that such 
a series of prophecy has not the authority 



UN PROPHLCY. 197 

which it claims, it presents to us one of the 
most astonishing and inexplicable facts in 
the whole history of the world. 

I have of necessity omitted many of the 
more striking predictions, and in particular, 
many of those which are brought forward 
in the New Testament by Christ and his 
apostles. But I am persuaded, that if the 
prophecies which I have selected shall be 
seriously examined and appreciated, the fair 
conclusion resulting from them will be com- 
pletely satisfactory. After giving them the 
attention which is due to them, it will not 
be found possible to believe, that the predic- 
tions of such a series could have been the 
result of human contrivance ; or that the 
prophets and apostles either invented, or 
u followed cunningly devised fables, when 
they made known to us the power and 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but that 
the whole series of the Old Testament pro- 
phecies contains luminous and impressive 
revelations, which came directly from the 
everlasting and omniscient God, who is the 
same to-day, and yesterday, and for ever ; 
who gave the prophets from the beginning 
of the world such premonitions of the latter 



198 



ON PROPHECY. 



days as suited their own times ; who en- 
trusted them with such predictions, as, what- 
ever obscurity it was necessary at first to 
preserve, were calculated to be fully com- 
prehended when the periods fixed for their 
accomplishment should arrive ; and such as, 
when ultimately completed and combined* 
form an accumulation of evidence for the 
authority of the last revelation intended for 
the human race, which infidelity will never 
be able to overthrow. 

The series of predictions contained in the 
Old Testament is much more closely connect- 
ed, and much more minute with regard to 
particular events, than it would appear to be 
from the selection to which I have of neces- 
sity confined myself. The same spirit of 
prophecy is continued from age to age ; in- 
terwoven both with the history and the sub- 
stance of the ancient dispensation ; every pe- 
riod in succession adding something to the 
light which was given before, till the Sun 
of Righteousness at last arises, and we see 
the light of life. 

Allowing the Jewish prophecies to be 
such as I have represented them, they are 
not brought forward at last to support Christ- 



ON PROPHECY. 



199 



ianity, without having been fully authenti- 
cated before. They have stood on the re- 
cord of the Jewish scriptures, from the ages 
in which those scriptures were first commit- 
ted to writing ; and unbelievers of Christia- 
nity, as the Jews have been, they were al- 
ways faithful depositaries of their ancient 
books. They come down to us in the Jewish 
record with an unquestionable authority ; 
and, as far as we see them accomplished, are 
incontrovertible pledges for the truth of the 
Gospel. 

He who will not believe that such a series 
of prophecy, so united, so authenticated, and 
so fulfilled, affixes the authority of God to 
that to which it bears testimony ; or that a 
revelation to which such a series of prophe- 
cy applies, is entitled to faith or confidence, 
would not be convinced by any other species 
of proof which could be offered. 

When we see the whole system of pro- 
phecy combined ; collected at last from what 
superficial observers had regarded as detach- 
ed or uncertain predictions ; and see how 
closely they are linked together, as prophe- 
cies of the Messiah's kingdom — how exactly 
they apply to the same events, in which 



200 



ON PROPHECY. 



they were all ultimately designed to termi- 
nate—how much light every successive pro- 
phecy reflects on the predictions given be- 
fore — and with how much simplicity and 
depth of design united, the form given them 
in the Old Testament scriptures is adapted 
to the original intentions of God for the re- 
storation of the human race, — we cannot 
fail to perceive, that the common objections 
made to prophecy are taken from the very 
circumstances which most obviously indicate 
profound and unerring wisdom. And, in- 
deed, it is not possible to consider the futility 
and weakness of those objections, without 
adopting the devout exclamation of the great 
apostle of the Gentiles, " O the depth of the 
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge 
of God ! How unsearchable are his judg- 
ments, and his ways past finding out ! For 
who hath known the mind of the Lord, or 
who hath been his counsellor ? Or who hath 
first given to him, and it shall be recom- 
pensed to him again ? For of him, and 
through him, and to him are all things, to 
whom be glory for ever. Amen." # 



* Romans xi. S3, 36, 



DISCOURSE V. 

ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 
SCRIPTURES. 



1. Peter, i. 25. 

u The word of the Lord endurethfor ever ; and 
this is the word which by the Gospel is preach- 
ed unto you." 

I have considered, in the preceding dis- 
courses, the evidence which was given to 
the ancient Jews for the authority of their 
peculiar revelation,— the inseparable connec- 
tion between the Mosaic dispensation and 
the Christian revelation, — and the direct tes- 
timony to the truth of the Gospel, which 
runs through the whole series of the Jewish 
scriptures. 

But it is evident, that both the history 
and the substance of Christianity are to be 



202 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



ultimately referred to the scriptures of the 
New Testament. To them every appeal 
must be made with regard to the origin, the 
progress, the doctrines, and the institutions 
of the Gospel. 

It is therefore an object of primary im- 
portance to ascertain the authority with which 
the New Testament scriptures have come 
down to us. 

I leave out of my view at present the mi- 
racles of the Gospel, because they will be 
afterwards considered ; and I observe, be- 
sides, that, though we believe the New Tes- 
tament to have been written by the inspira- 
tion of God, and that this is the ultimate 
source of its authority, we ought to arrive 
at this conclusion by means of the facts in 
which its origin is involved. 

The scrutiny into the history of the primi- 
tive church has been more severe than any in- 
vestigation which has ever been attempted in- 
to any other facts upon record. Its authenti- 
city is for that reason better ascertained than 
that of any other history or narrative which 
has been transmitted to us from remote ages. 

1. I observe, that it is established by the 
testimony of all the ancient authors who 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 203 

have mentioned the subject, that Christianity 
had its origin at the time when the New- 
Testament supposes it to have commenced, 
and that the leading facts in its early history 
are precisely those which we find in the New 
Testament. 

Whether the writers on this subject are 
the friends or the enemies of Christianity, 
the leading facts which they mention are al- 
ways in substance the same : — That the au- 
thor of Christianity, who had many follow- 
ers during his own life, was crucified at Je- 
rusalem, when Pontius Pilate was governor 
of Judea ; that his disciples, notwithstand- 
ing, continued to believe in him, and public- 
ly asserted that he had risen from the dead ; 
that their numbers continued to increase, 
and were soon spread from Judea to the ut- 
most limits of the Roman empire ; that they 
universally abhorred every other form of re- 
ligion but that which they received from 
Christ, and that the Christians made nume- 
rous converts wherever they went ; that they 
assembled on a certain day in every week to 
worship him who was crucified in Palestine, 
and to sing hymns to him as to a God ; that 
they then bound themselves by an oath to 



204 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



abstain from theft and adultery, and every 
other crime,— never to violate promises, or to 
refuse restitution of goods committed to 
their custody; that their first lawgiver had 
taught them to regard one another as bre- 
thren, and that they were closely attached to 
one another ; that when their faith was in 
question, rather than renounce it, they re- 
signed themselves without resistance to suf- 
ferings, and to death itself ; and that, in 
some of the provinces, a few years after the 
death of Christ, the governors reported to 
the emperors, that Christianity had made 
such an impression on the cities, towns, and 
villages, as to produce in many of them a 
general desertion of the heathen temples. 

The outline of these facts is certified by 
Tacitus, by Suetonius, by Pliny, and by 
Lucian ; and though every circumstance be 
not reported by each of them, their accounts, 
where they are not the same, are perfectly 
consistent; and, though they do not appear 
to have read the Christian Scriptures, are in 
no material point at variance with the New 
Testament History. * 

• Taciti Annal. Lib. xv. cap. 44. Sueton. Nero, cap. 16, 
Pliny's Letters to Trajan, Lib. x. Epist. 97. Lucian de 
Morte Peregrini, Vol. I. p. 365. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 205 



They pretend to give no account of Christ- 
ianity, or of its author, different from that 
which the evangelists have left vis. As far 
as their information goes, they relate the 
same facts with regard to both ; and even 
where their knowledge is least correct, by 
alluding to the same facts, which others de- 
tail with better information, they undesign- 
edly transmit to us most striking confirma- 
tions of the narratives we have received 
from the apostles and evangelists. They 
profess to abhor Christianity, and to despise 
those who had embraced it ; but they are 
completely agreed with regard to the general 
facts to which its origin is referred, and 
with regard to the gradual and increasing 
influence which it had acquired in the em- 
pire. Tacitus says, that its progress had 
once been checked (most probably alluding 
to the first persecution in Judea), but that it 
had not only soon regained its influence, but 
had established it even in the midst of the 
capital. * 

It deserves to be particularly mentioned, 

* llepressaque in presens cxitiabilis superstitio, rursus erum- 
pebat, non modo per Judaeam, originera ejus mali, sed per 
urbcm etiam. &c. Taciti Annal. Lib. xv. 41, 



206 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



that the earliest writers in opposition to 
Christianity never pretended to give a dif- 
ferent account of its origin, or to question 
a single fact of importance on which it de- 
pends. On the contrary, their reasonings 
uniformly proceed on the supposition that 
the outline of its history is correctly given in 
the New Testament ; and they are, there- 
fore, though unintentional, no inconsider- 
able witnesses to the general truth of the 
relations which were at first published, and 
have been transmitted to us by the evange- 
lists and apostles. 

Celsus was the first who wrote with the 
avowed design of opposing or refuting 
Christianity. His works are lost ; and we 
have only the fragments which Origen has 
preserved in eight books which he wrote 
against him. He lived in the middle of the 
second century ; and whatever was the 
strength or weakness of his argument 
against Christianity, the quotations which 
we find in the works of Origen, and which 
he professes to have literally transcribed, 
demonstrate that Celsus not only admitted 
the leading facts in the early history of 
Christianity, but that he reasoned on the con- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 207 



elusions deduced from them, on the supposi- 
tion that they had been faithfully related by 
the evangelists and apostles, and that he 
had evidently read the same precise narra- 
tives which are transmitted to us in the 
Christian scriptures. Indeed, the circum- 
stances which he distinctly mentions with 
regard to the genealogy, the precepts, the 
predictions, the death, and the resurrection 
of Christ, leave us no room to doubt, that, 
with all his prejudices against Christianity, 
he neither disputed the facts on which it 
was founded, nor the authenticity of the 
narratives which the evangelists have re- 
corded. 

Porphyry was a writer who had both a 
greater extent of information, and more con- 
siderable talents than Celsus. His works, 
as far as they related to Christianity, are 
likewise supposed to have been lost. * He 
lived in the third century ; and the frag- 

* Isaac Vossius believed that these works were still pre- 
served in the Medicean library of Florence, but that they 
were kept so secret, that they were not permitted to be seen 
by any one. It is not probable, if they were there, that 
they would not have appeared before this time. His Lives of 
Pythagoras and others are still extant. See Marsh's Notes on 
Michaelis, Vol. I. p. 367. 



203 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



rnents of his writings against Christianity 
have been generally preserved by Jerome, 
and were collected by Mill and Lardner. He 
possessed every advantage, both from his 
situation, and from the extent of his abili- 
ties, for tracing the New Testament to its 
source; yet there is not 'the slightest hint 
given, that he had ever questioned the gene- 
ral authority of the relations published by the 
apostles or evangelists, though he was cer- 
tainly disposed to have done this, if he had 
entertained any doubts on the subject. On 
the contrary, he uniformly refers to them, 
as containing the facts on which Christianity 
was founded, while he urges his objections 
to the substance of the faith which the 
Christians embraced. His objections them- 
selves are, like the arguments of Celsus, 
real attestations of the facts related in the 
New Testament Scriptures, and of the fide- 
lity with which they have been transmitted 
to our times. * 

The Emperor Julian wrote at the distance 

* See Mill's Prolegomena, sect. 702, 703. Lardner's JeiTn 
ish and Heathen Testimonies, Vol. III. ch. xxxvii, sect, p 
Michaelis's Introduction (Marsh's translation), Vol. I. p il. 
42, 43, and Notes to ditto, p. 367- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRITTURES. 20<J 

of an hundred years from the time of Por- 
phyry, after Christianity had been so widely 
spread as to have been the established re- 
ligion of the empire, and when the violent 
controversies which had agitated the Christ- 
ian church itself, had brought equally into 
public view both the facts and the doctrines 
which distinguished it. With all his malig- 
nity against Christianity, from which, after 
he had professed himself a Christian, he a- 
postatized, he never attempted to give an 
account of its origin different from that 
which the evangelists relate ; but, on the con- 
trary, all his reasonings and sarcasms against 
the gospel proceed on the supposition, not 
only that he did not pretend to controvert 
its general history, but that he admitted the 
authenticity of the narratives of the evange- 
lists and apostles, and, without questioning 
the facts which they related, regarded the 
faith which was founded on them, with the 
insolent contempt and ridicule of an infidel. 

Had it been possible to have brought for- 
ward a contradictory history, either of Christ 
or of his disciples, we may well suppose that 
this would have been attempted, while the 
events were recent, and every source of infor- 

o 



210 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



mation was accessible. It is not only cer- 
tain that no attempt of this kind was made, 
either at the time when Christianity was first 
promulgated, or by any writer who lived 
near the apostolic age, but that, whatever 
was written against Christianity during the 
first four centuries, or which relates to 
events in which either its origin or its pro- 
gress is involved, the more it has been ri- 
gidly investigated, has served the more to 
illustrate and confirm the truth of the evan- 
gelical history. The incidental coincidence of 
narrati ves, not intentionally connected, has u- 
niformly added to the clearness and authority 
of the relations given by the evangelists and 
apostles, and has frequently suggested most 
important' illustrations to confirm them ; 
while, on the other hand, there is not a single 
example of coincident narratives, which has 
been sufficiently investigated, from which a 
contrary conclusion can be fairly deduced. 

We are therefore entitled to assume, that 
facts in which every ancient writer who 
mentions them concurs — which no writer of 
the age to which they belong has attempted 
to bring into question — and which accord 
with all the coincident narratives relating to 

4 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 211 



the same period, may be received with con- 
fidence, as incontrovertibly true. 

The Christians were persecuted from the 
first beginning of their church ; but, in the 
narrative of every persecution raised against 
them, they are represented as suffering on 
account of their adherence to precisely the 
same facts, to which the historical record of 
the New Testament refers the rise of Christ- 
ianity. They uniformly suffered for their ad- 
herence to Christ as the crucified Messiah, 
whom they affirmed to have been raised from 
the dead by the power of God ; and for their 
adherence to Christianity, as steadily oppos- 
ed to every species of idolatry — as claiming 
a universal promulgation, in opposition to 
every other faith — and as originally preached 
by Christ himself in Judea, and, after his re- 
surrection, in every quarter of the Roman em- 
pire, by his apostles and disciples. Whatever 
variety of colouring the charge against the 
Christians assumes, it is always founded in 
the history of their religion, which is ever 
the same. 

These circumstances go far indeed to 
shew, that the substance of the narratives in 
the New Testament, is beyond all controversy 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



certain ; and therefore, that we are entitled 
to place entire reliance on the authenticity 
of the books which contain them. 

The heathen writers of the first century 
certainly mention very generally, and even 
contemptuously, whatever they have related, 
in which Christianity is concerned ; and 
many of them, with evident design and ma- 
lignity, affect to pass over in silence both its 
origin and its progress. But this very cir- 
cumstance gives so much the more authori- 
ty to such facts as they have undesigned- 
ly transmitted to posterity, which have a 
manifest relation to the narratives of the 
Gospel, or serve directly or collaterally to 
confirm them ; and it must add greatly 
to the weight of the conclusion which re- 
sults from this incontrovertible truth, that 
not a single circumstance, inconsistent with 
the relations given by the writers of the New 
Testament, can be traced back even to one 
unbeliever of the age to which it ought to 
be referred. 

In strict connection with this idea, I ob- 
serve, 

2. That the books of the New Testament 
were widely spread among the Christians, as 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 213 

the writings of the same authors whose 
names they still bear, during the course of 
the first century ; and that they then con- 
tained precisely what they still contain, as the 
general history and substance of Christianity. 

There can be nothing more completely es- 
tablished by authentic history, than that the 
books of the New Testament, as they have 
come down to us, were generally read in the 
Christian churches, within an hundred years 
after the death of Christ. 

While the inspired apostles and evange- 
lists, and their immediate disciples, were still 
alive, the edification of the Christian church- 
es, and the gradual propagation of the gos- 
pel, were chiefly promoted by their personal 
labours. They preached much more than 
they wrote, and considered their apostolical 
travels, and their public preaching, as the 
chief part of the service entrusted to them. 

But, even during their lives, many of the 
books of the New Testament were already 
widely circulated. 

The evangelist Luke refers to the other 
gospels, which had been written before his 
own. And it is impossible to read the gos- 
pel of John, without being sensible, that it 



214 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



was chiefly intended to relate facts in our 
Lord's history, which had not been men- 
tioned by the other evangelists. It is there- 
fore manifest, that their gospels were already 
circulated before his was written. 

The apostle Paul is supposed to have 
quoted the gospels of Matthew and Luke in 
his first epistle to Timothy,* where he refers 
to scripture for a maxim, f 6i the labourer is 
worthy of his reward" ) which is only to be 
found in these gospels, f And the apostle 
Peter mentions Paul's Epistles as scriptures^ 
(or as writings of inspired authority, receiv- 
ed and recognized by the Christian churches) 
which, at the time when he wrote his second 
epistle, were generally read and known. 

After the death of the apostles, and even 
during the lives of some of them, there is 
incontestible evidence, that the books of the 
New Testament were constantly appealed or 
referred to by the writers who immediately 
succeeded them, as the authoritative oracles 
of the Christian faith. 

The apostolical fathers, (that is, those dis- 
ciples and ministers of Christ who were in 



* 1 Tim, y. 18. 



-fr Math. x. 10. Luke x. 7. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 215 

immediate succession to the apostles, many of 
whom had personally conversed with them) 
without any professed intention to ascertain 
the canon of the New Testament, have most 
effectually ascertained it, by their quotations 
from the several books which it contains, or 
by their explicit references to them, as the 
authentic scriptures received and relied on 
as inspired oracles, by the whole Christian 
church. They most frequently use the same 
words which are still read in the New Tes- 
tament ; and, even when they appear to 
have quoted from memory, without intend- 
ing to confine themselves to the same lan- 
guage, or to have merely referred to the 
scriptures, without professing to quote them, 
it is clear, that they had precisely the same 
texts in their view, which are still found in 
the books of the New Testament. 

But, what is of chief importance on this 
subject, every competent judge of their writ- 
ings must perceive, on the one hand, that, in 
all the questions which occurred to them, 
either in doctrine or morals, they uniformly 
appealed to the same scriptures which are in 
our possession ; and, on the other hand, that 
they were universally accustomed to refer to 



216 



ON THE AUTHORITY 0¥ 



all the books of the New Testament, contain- 
ing what related to the subjects which they 
were led to discuss, without appearing to 
have intentionally omitted any of them. All 
the inspired books, or the same texts, are 
not quoted by every writer ; as the sub- 
ject of the epistle to Philemon could not 
be as frequently appealed to, as the doctrine 
of larger and more argumentative epistles. 
They had no intention to record the particu- 
lars of the canon, either of the Old or of the 
New Testament, not having been sufficiently 
aware of the importance of their testimony 
to succeeding ages ; though the facts which 
they have furnished to establish it, incident- 
ally or occasionally introduced in their writ- 
ings, are not on this account less intelligible 
or important, but, on the contrary, derive a 
great part of their weight and value from 
this circumstance. There is scarcely a book 
of the New Testament, which one or other of 
the apostolical fathers has not either quoted 
or referred to ; and their united and unin- 
tentional testimony, given in this form, is 
certainly more decisive of the original au- 
thority assigned to the scriptures referred to, 
than a precise list of them, or a professed 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 217 

dissertation from any individual to prove 
their authenticity, would have been. They 
uniformly quote and allude to them, with 
the respect and reverence due to inspired 
writings ; and they describe them as " scrip- 
tures," as " sacred scriptures," and as u the 
oracles of the Lord." * 

There is indeed good reason to conclude, 
not only from the multiplicity of references, 
but from the language employed by the 
apostolical fathers in making their quota- 
tions, that the books of the New Testament 
were not only generally received, and in 
common use in the Christian churches, but 
that at least the greater part of them had 
been collected and circulated in one volume 
before the end of the first, or in the very be- 
ginning of the second century. 

This fact may be fairly deduced from the 
language of Ignatius, who preached at An- 
tioch about forty years after our Lord's 
ascension, and suffered martyrdom at Rome 
early in the second century ; according 
to some accounts, in the year 107, and by 

* Sec Clerici Patres, and Dr Lardner's Credibility, under 
the articles, Barnabas, Clement, Hermes, Ignatius, and PoJy- 
carp. 



218 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



others, in the year 116. He says in sub- 
stance, " That, in order to understand the 
will of God, he fled to the gospels, which 
he believed no less than if Christ in the 
flesh had been speaking to him; and to 
the writings of the apostles, whom he es- 
teemed as the presbytery of the whole 
Christian church." * The gospels and the 
apostles, in the plural, suppose that the 
writings referred to had been collected, and 
were read together, f 

It ought not to be forgotten, at the same 
time, that, independent of their quotations 
from the books of the New Testament, and 

* This is the paraphrase of Le Clerc, and gives, I am per- 
suaded, the true meaning of Ignatius. The words of Ignatius 
are these : <? Fleeing to the Gospels, as the flesh of Jesus, and 
to the apostles as the presbytery of the church." Epist. ad 
Philadelph. Sect. t. 

+ See the first seven chapters of Dr Lardner's Credibility, 
where the proofs of what is here stated are minutely given. 
He has left little to be done by those who come after him, on 
any subject of Christian antiquity to which he applied his 
mind. The substance of the argument in this discourse is 
chiefly to be referred to him, though the original authorities 
have also been consulted. See also the two first chapters of 
a Jones on the Canon," Part iv. He published before Dr 
Lardner ; aod, though he wrote on a much more limited scale, 
has also very considerably abridged the labours of later aiu 
thors. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 219 

of their evident allusions to them, the apos- 
tolical fathers were the chief persons from 
whom the writers, who immediately suc- 
ceeded them, received the information which 
they have transmitted to us, concerning the 
authors, and the general reception of the 
New Testament books. The testimony of 
those apostolical men, forms, of necessity, 
an important link in that unbroken chain 
of evidence, which was intended for the con- 
viction of the latest ages.* 

The writers who come next in succession 
to the apostolical fathers, have so frequently 
quoted and referred to the books of the New 
Testament, that there is scarcely a single 
book which we are not entitled to consider 
as attested by them. 

Papias, who was bishop of Hierapolis in 
Asia, possessed but a moderate capacity, 
though he has, perhaps, been treated with less 
respect by Eusebius, and those who have 
followed him, than was due to him ; but he 
was a man of unquestionable integrity, and 
a sincere believer in Christianity. Irenasus 
has represented him as a hearer and disciple 



* See Note EE. 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



of the apostle John ; though it does not ap- 
pear, from his own account of himself, 
reported by Eusebius, that he had ever 
seen any one of the apostles. He had 
certainly the best access, by those with 
whom he lived, who had been the disciples 
and companions of apostles, to the fullest 
and most correct information, w r ith regard 
to the facts which he has attested. He re- 
fers to those who had conversed with " the 
elders," or apostles ; specifying, as the elders 
or apostles alluded to, Andrew and Peter, 
Philip and Thomas, James, John, and Mat- 
thew. And he particularly mentions the 
gospels of Matthew and Mark, as written 
by the persons whose names they bear, — as- 
serting of the one, that he understood it to 
have been originally written in Hebrew ; 
and of the other, that the substance of it had 
been received from the apostle Peter, and 
that it was read in the Christian churches 
with his approbation. * He alludes, besides, 
to the Acts of the Apostles, to the First 
Epistle of Peter, and the First Epistle of 
John, and (though more indirectly) to the 
Book of Revelation. His public life began 

* Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. Hi. cap. 39. and Lib. vi. cap. 14. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. $21 



between the years 110 and 116 ; and his testi- 
mony, limited as it is, (for it might certainly 
have been extended to many books of the New 
Testament which he has not mentioned) de- 
rives its importance from his immediate and 
personal access to the original authorities, 

Justin Martyr was a native of Sichem, or 
Flavia Neapolis, of Samaria in Palestine. He 
was born about the year 89, and suffered 
martyrdom about the year 163. He had been 
originally a heathen philosopher, and, after 
having made trial of other sects, had embra- 
ced the doctrines of Plato. He relates, in his 
Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, the circum- 
stances of his conversion to Christianity, 
which it is probable did not happen till he 
had passed his fortieth year, about one hun- 
dred years after our Lord's crucifixion ; and 
says, that he embraced Christianity at last, 
as the only safe and useful philosophy. * 
From this time he devoted his life to the 
service of Christianity, and, as a writer, was 
certainly one of its most enlightened and in- 
trepid defenders. His most considerable 

* Justin. Dialog, cum Tryph. p. 6. E. Faris edit. 1554. 
if Hanc unam reperiebam philosophiam, et tutam efc utilem." 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



works, which have reached us, are his two 
Apologies for Christianity, and his Dialogue 
with Trypho. 

Justin has numerous quotations from the 
gospels, which he uniformly represents as con- 
taining the genuine and authentic accounts of 
Jesus Christ, and of his doctrine. He speaks 
of memoirs, or records, written by the apos- 
tles and by their companions; evidently refer- 
ring to the apostles Matthew and John, and to 
the disciples of the apostles, Mark and Luke, 
the writers of the four gospels. These gos- 
pels, he tells us, were read and expounded 
every Sunday, in the solemn assemblies of 
the Christians, along with the books of the 
Old Testament, which were also regularly 
read, as they had formerly been in the Jew- 
ish synagogues. * He mentions this fact in 
the account which he gives of the Christian 
assemblies on the Lord's day, to the empe- 
ror and senate of Rome, (a fact which 
must have been intimately known to him) 
as the settled usage of the Christians. The 
general reading of the gospels, as a part of 
public worship, at the time when his second 

* Justini O] cr.i, Apolog. 2cla ? Paris edit. p. 43. A. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 223 

apology was written (about the year 140) is 
an irresistible proof, not only of the early au- 
thority ascribed to the gospels by the whole 
body of the believers, but of their general cir- 
culation, in a collected £orm, at this early pe- 
riod of the Christian church. He appeals to 
them, in the most public manner, as writings 
open to all the world, and read by Jews and 
Gentiles. And, what is not an unimportant 
circumstance to us, who have seen a most un- 
founded question agitated with regard to the 
authority of the two first chapters of Matthew, 
Justin has expressly said of both Matthew and 
Luke, who alone have given the genealogies of 
our Lord, that, being Hebrews themselves, 
they took those genealogies from the public 
registers ; * demonstrating, if Matthew's gos- 
pel was written, as is most probable, about 
the year sixty-three or sixty-four, that the 
genealogy of the first chapter of that gospel, 
quoted, within eighty or ninety years of that 
time, by one of the most ancient writers 
after the apostolical fathers, was not only 
then received as a genuine part of Matthew's 
gospel, but was then believed to have been 
authenticated by the public registers of Judea, 



* Ibid. Explic. Quaest. Questio 123. 



224 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



Besides the gospels, Justin has quoted or 
alluded to the Acts of the Apostles, the 
Epistle to the Romans, the First Epistle to 
the Corinthians, the Epistles to the Gala- 
tians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossi- 
ans, the Second Epistle to the Thessaloni- 
ans, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Second 
Epistle of Peter, and the Book of Revela- 
tion which he expressly ascribes to the 
apostle John. 

Justin's literature, his sincerity, and his 
thorough acquaintance with the history of 
Christianity, render his testimony to the 
authenticity of the New Testament books, 
given incidentally as it is, of inestimable va- 
lue. 

Melito was Bishop of Sardis, in Lydia* 
about the year 170. Though he appears to 
have been a voluminous writer, none of his 
works have reached our times, excepting the 
fragments preserved by Eusebius and Je- 
rome. He travelled into Palestine to ascer- 
tain the Jewish canon, and left a catalogue 
of the Old Testament books, which is still 
referred to. From the language quoted from 
him with regard to the Old Testament, as 
distinguished from the New, there is good 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 225 



reason to conclude, that he had in his view 
the books collected into one volume, which 
were known as early as his time by the ge- 
neral denomination of the New Testament. * 
He wrote on the book of Revelation, which 
he ascribed to John, by whom he probably 
meant the apostle John, f 

Irenaeus became Bishop of Lyons, in Gaul, 
about the year 170, or perhaps a few years 
later. His testimony to the facts which he 
attests is the more important, that he was a 
disciple of Polycarp, and had conversed with 
many others who had been instructed by 
the apostles and the immediate disciples of 
our Lord. 

Though he wrote much more, his five 
books against heresies are all that remain of 
his writings. But from them we learn, that 
he received as authentic and canonical Scrip- 
tures, and ascribed to the persons whose 
names they bear, the four Gospels, the Acts 
of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Romans, 
the First and Second Epistles to the Corin- 
thians, the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephe- 

►4s i u ' • ' ' ' < 'sr ' r • i j tw*r < 
* Dr Lardoer's Credibility, Part ii. ch. 15. 
+ Mill's Prolegomena. Dr Lardner. 

P 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



sians, Philippians, and Collossians, the First 
and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, 
the First and Second Epistles to Timothy, 
the Epistle to Titus, the First and Second* 
Epistles of Peter, and the First and Second 
Epistles of John. He has perhaps alluded to 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, and if he did 
so, there does not appear to be any suffi- 
cient reason for supposing that he did not 
ascribe that Epistle to the apostle Paul, f He 
has only once J quoted or alluded to the Epis- 
tles of James and of Jude, and his reference 
to the last of these is obscure, and perhaps 
doubtful : But he very often quotes the Book 
of Revelation as written by the apostle 
John, and as, besides, attested by those who 
had personally conversed with that apostle. 

* Dr Lardner does not consider the testimony of lrenaeus as 
explicitly given, either to the Second Epistle of Peter, or to the 
Epistles of James or Jude. The allusions to them, and particu- 
larly to the last, are certainly slight. But, to my apprehension, 
James ii. 23, is distinctly quoted by lrenaeus, and 2. Peter, iii. 
8, is clearly alluded to. Jude, vii. may, or may not have been 
intended. 

f Dr Lardner doubts if lrenaeus iutendod an allusion to the 
Epistle to the Hebrews. He says there is proof that he was ac- 
quainted with it, but not that he was satisfied that it was the 
Apostle Paul's. Credib. p. ii. ch. 17. 

J James ii. 23. Jude v. 7. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 227 

His testimony on this point is so explicit 
and decisive, as scarcely to leave room for 
a controversy on the subject ; for he dis- 
tinctly speaks of " the exact and ancient co- 
pies of this book, confirmed by the agreeing 
testimony of those who had seen John him- 
self." * 

In shorty we have the testimony of Irenaeus, 
in one form or another, to every one of the 
Books of the New Testament, excepting the 
Epistle to Philemon and the Third Epistle of 
John, which, from their brevity, we may sup- 
pose he had not found any opportunity to 
mention. 

Considering the age in which he lived, 
and his access to the original sources of in- 
formation, the testimony of Irenaeus is suffi- 
ciently important to give to that part of his 
writings which remain a perpetual interest 
and value in the Christian church. Besides 
what has been stated, he mentions " the 
code of the New Testament, as well as of the 
Old," and calls the one, as well as the other, 
" the Oracles of God y and Writings dictated 
by his Word and Spirit." f 

* Dr Lardner's Cred. p. ii. ch. xvii. sect. 6. 
+ See Richardson on the Canon of the New Testament, 
p. 13. 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



Clement of Alexandria lived between the 
years 190 and 220. He presided in the ca- 
techetical school of Alexandria. He was a 
man of extensive learning ; travelled into 
different countries in search of information ; 
and is quoted by the ancient writers with 
the highest degree of respect and distinc- 
tion. It appears that he received, as inspired 
Scriptures, the four Gospels, and he express- 
ly says, that the gospels which contain the 
genealogies were first written, * giving his 
explicit testimony to the authenticity of the 
first chapter of Matthew. He received also 
the Acts of the Apostles, the whole of the 
Epistles of Paul, (including the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, which he distinctly ascribed to 
him,) excepting the Epistle to Philemon, 
(which he had no opportunity of quoting), 
the First Epistle of Peter, the First and Se- 
cond Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, 
and the Book of Revelation, which he clearly 
ascribes to the apostle John. 

He speaks explicitly of the inspiration of 
the Scriptures, prefacing his quotations by 
phrases such as these : " The Holy Spirit in 

* Quoted from his Institutions (a book which is lost) by 
EusebhiSj Hist. Eccles. Lib. vi. cap. ] 4. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 229 



the apostle says " The law and the 
prophets, together with the Gospel, con- 
duct to one and the same knowledge in 
the name of Christ ;"t "We believe them 
to have been confirmed by Almighty au- 
thority," and that " One God and Al- 
mighty Lord is taught by the law, and the 
prophets, and the blessed Gospel." J He 
describes the New Testament books as col- 
lected into a volume, and he calls the Scrip- 
tures of the New Testament, <c the Scriptures 
of the Lord,"§ and <c the true evangelical 
canon." J) 

Tertullian, the first of the Latin fathers, 
and one of the most considerable writers of 
his time, the son of a proconsul, or centurion, 
was born at Carthage about the middle of 
the second century. He was chiefly known 
as a Christian writer during the reigns of 
the Emperors Severus and Caracalla. He is 
described by Origen as the prince (or the 
most considerable man,) of all the Latin 
writers of the church. He lived till about 
the year 220, or perhaps to a later period. 

* Clem. AlexaniL Paedtgog. Lib. i. p. 106. 

+ Ibid. Stroma* Lib iii, p. 455. + Ibid. Lib. iv. p. 475. 

§ Ibid. Strom Lib, i.p.660. |j Ibid. Lib. iii. p. 453. 



230 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



He became a Montanist about the year 200 ; 
and Christian writers have commonly dis- 
tinguished between what he wrote before 
that period, and what he published after- 
wards. But, excepting his absurd reliance 
on the inspiration of Montanus and his 
two prophetesses, it does not appear that 
he departed from any material article of the 
Christian faith 3 though, in conformity to their 
distinguishing tenets, he contended for a 
higher degree of Christian perfection, or a 
more rigid self-denial, than he had before as- 
serted to be necessary. He is extolled for the 
strength of his understanding, and the ex- 
tent of his learning; and his apology for 
Christianity has always been celebrated as 
the production of one of its most enlighten- 
ed and ablest defenders. 

Tertullian's testimony to the authority of 
the canonical scriptures, before and after he 
embraced the tenets of Montanus, is exactly 
the same. He uniformly recognizes the four 
Gospels, as written by the evangelists to 
whom we ascribe them ; distinguishing Mat- 
thew and John as apostles, and Luke and 
Mark as apostolical men ; and asserting the 
authority of their writings as inspired books, 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 231 



acknowledged by the Christian church, from 
their original date. # 

He has quoted distinctly the Acts of the 
Apostles, and all the apostolical epistles, ex- 
cepting the epistle of James, the second epistle 
of Peter, and the second and third epistles 
of John. The second epistle of John, indeed, 
he has not directly quoted ; but it seems to be 
clear, that he alluded to v. 10 of that epistle, 
when he says, that 66 we are forbidden to 
converse with heretics." The epistle to Phile- 
mon he has rather described than quoted, but 
he has so clearly described it, as to give it the 
most explicit attestation. The epistle to the 
Hebrews, though sometimes quoted, is more 
frequently alluded to, without being directly 
mentioned. He seems to have considered it as 
having been written rather by Barnabas than 
by Paul. But he gives a direct attestation of 
the Book of Revelation, as having been writ- 
ten by the apostle John ; and, to mention no- 
thing more, he has expressly affirmed, that 
when he wrote, the Christian Scriptures were 
open to the inspection of all the world, Christ- 
ians and Heathens, without distinction, f 

*Tertull. adv. Marcion, Lib. iv. cap. 5. 

r Tertuil. Apolog. cap. 31. ci Inspice Dei voces, literas nos- 



232 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



It appears, besides, that in his time there 
was already a Latin version of some part of 
the New Testament, if not of the whole of 
it. For, at least in one instance, he appeals 
from the language of the version, to the au- 
thority of the authentic copies in Greek. * 

The testimony of Tertullian is of great 
importance^ in ascertaining, not only the au- 
thenticity, but the integrity of the Christian 
Scriptures ; as well from the extent of learn- 
ing and information which distinguished 
him, as from the multiplicity and correct- 
ness of his quotations ; and his testimony is 
the more important, that it is not in the least 
degree affected by the tenets of Montanus, 
which he ultimately embraced. No example 
can be given of any other ancient book, quot- 
ed with the same frequency, or with the same 
exactness. 

Origen was another distinguished lumina- 
ry of the Christian church. He was born in 
Egypt about the year 185, and lived till a- 
bout the year 253. 

tras, quas neque ipsi suppriraimus, ct plerique casus ad extra- 
neos trail sferunt.'' 

* Tertull. de Monog. cap. 11. " Sciamus plane non sic esse 
In Grseco authentico**' 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 233 

He was at first a teacher of Christianity 
in the school of Alexandria, and afterwards 
at Csesaria in Palestine, where he was ordained 
a presbyter ; and he certainly deserves to be 
placed in the first rank, both of learning and 
industry. The number of his writings in 
defence of Christianity, which almost surpass 
belief, led Jerome, able and industrious as 
he himself was above his contemporaries, 
to say of him, " Who amongst us all is able 
to read as much as Origen has written ?" # 

The greater part of the works of Origen is 
lost ; but in that part of them which has 
survived the wreck of time, we are indebted 
to him for no small proportion of the facts 
which illustrate the original history of Chris- 
tianity, and the early controversies to which 
it gave occasion. He has, in particular, pre- 
served, from the writings of Ceisus, the most 
distinct and complete attestations of the Gos- 
pel history, which could well have been giv- 
en from the mouth of an adversary ; while 
his replies to the objections which Ceisus 
urged against Christianity, are equally pre- 
cise and decisive, f 



* Hieronym. Epist. 41. + See Note FF. 



234 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



His testimony to the authority of the 
books of the New Testament is sufBciently 
explicit. He received, as inspired scripture, 
the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 
thirteen Epistles of Paul, (including the Epis- 
tle to Philemon,) and the Epistle to the He- 
brews. He uniformly quotes this last epistle 
as the writing of the Apostle Paul, and re- 
peatedly says, that this was the opinion of 
ancient writers, though he also says that 
some had expressed doubts on this point. 
He also received, as authentic Scripture, the 
First Epistle of Peter, the Epistle of James, * 
and the First Epistle of John. He does not 
quote the Second Epistle of Peter, the Se- 
cond and Third Epistles of John, or the 
Ep'srle of Jude. But he tells us, that all 
these Epistles were well known to the Christ- 
ian church. He says of the Second Epistle 
of John, that it was questioned ; but he adds, 
<c Let this also be granted to be his," as if 
he considered this to have been the most 
probable supposition. And f he uniformly 

* Origeni Comment, in Joannem. He seems to say, how- 
ever, that some doubted the authority of this epistle. See al- 
so Mill's Proleg. 203. 

t Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. vi. cap. 25. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



235 



quotes the Book of Revelation as the writing 
of the apostle John. 

On the whole, there is good reason to con- 
clude, that Origen was well acquainted with 
all the books received into our canon ; and 
there is no certain reason for believing that 
he rejected any one of those epistles which 
he has not quoted. 

The authority which he ascribed to the 
books of the New Testament, as inspired 
writings, he was accustomed to express in the 
most unqualified terms. He represents it as 
the common opinion, " That the sacred books 
are not the writings of men, but have been 
written and delivered to us from the inspira- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, by the will of the 
Father of all, through Jesus Christ and 
says, besides, " That we are never to say 
that there is any thing impertinent or super- 
fluous in the Scriptures of the Holy Spirit, 
though to some they may seem obscure ; 
but we are to turn the eyes of our mind to 
him who commanded these things to be 
written, and seek of him the interpreta- 
tion." * 

* Quoted by Dr Lardner, Credibility, Part ii. ch. 38, sect. 
19. 



£36 



ON THE AUTHORITY OP 



While Origen expressed himself in this 
manner with regard to the books of the New 
Testament, it is certain, on the other hand, 
that he did not receive as canonical any of 
the apocryphal writings. Though he has 
sometimes mentioned these, he has placed 
none of them on a level with the inspired 
Scriptures. 

Origen was not exempted from the imper- 
fections of human nature, and he was assail- 
ed by many opponents, both during his life, 
and after his death. His opinions were not 
admitted to be sound on every point of doc- 
trine, and it was alleged that his imagination 
sometimes went before his judgment. But 
it may be doubted, whether these remarks 
were not founded rather in the envy of his 
adversaries, than in the real opinions of 
Origen. His apology for Christianity, in 
opposition to Celsus the Epicurean, has been 
considered as the best defence of Christiani- 
ty which has been transmitted from anti- 
quity ; and his memory will always be re- 
garded with respect in the Christian world, 
by every competent judge. But independent 
of the enlightened industry and persever- 
ance with which he applied his talents to 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 237 



the service of the gospel, the temper of his 
mind, his edifying piety and humility, were 
such, that it has been truly said of him, that 
he did not so much recommend Christianity 
by what he preached, or by what he wrote, 
as by the general tenor of his life. 

His testimony to the authority of the in- 
spired Scriptures will never lose its weight ; 
nor will the earnestness with which he ur- 
ged the reading of the Old and New Tes- 
tament, as a sacred obligation in the church 
of Christ, ever be regarded as unimportant or 
uninteresting. 

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, 
was born about the year 270 ; became a bi- 
shop between the years 315 and 320; and 
died about the year 339. 

We are indebted to him for a great part of 
the history of the primitive church, of which 
we have no other information ; and for the 
preservation of most valuable documents and 
extracts from the writings of ancient au- 
thors, which have not reached our times. 

Many of his works are lost, and in parti- 
cular, his books against Porphyry, and other 
heathen adversaries of Christianity. There 
are, however, several important extracts from 



238 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



Porphyry's books in his works which re^ 
main, and in the writings of Jerome and 
Suidas, from which we can at least collect 
many of the objections which Porphyry had 
urged against the Christian faith. 

We have certainly more information from 
Eusebius, with regard to the first ages of 
Christianity, and the writers whom they 
produced, than from all other uninspired 
books before he wrote. 

He has, in particular, collected every thing 
which had been said before his own age, 
with regard to the canon of the New Testa- 
ment, though the opinions which he has 
given with regard to particular parts of the 
canon are sometimes doubtful, and perhaps 
not always consistent. 

He sets down, as authentic Scriptures, the 
four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and 
fourteen Epistles of Paul, including the Epis- 
tle to the Hebrews ; though, with regard to 
this last Epistle, he says, that it was rejected 
by some, because it was doubted in the Ro- 
man church whether Paul was the author. 
But Eusebius himself frequently quotes it as 
Paul's Epistle ; and though he often alludes 
to the doubt ascribed to the church of Rome, 



THE NEW TESTAiMENT SCRIPTURES. 239 

he has given us sufficient reason to believe 
that he was disposed to consider it as Paul's ; 
that in his time it was generally received as 
genuine Scripture; and that it was commonly- 
read in the Christian assemblies.* He speaks 
with more hesitation of the Book of Re- 
velation, because, though generally ascrib- 
ed to the apostle John, he thinks it was not 
certainly known to be his, and had been 
sometimes supposed to have been written 
by a person whom he mentions by the name 
of John the Elder, f He allows, however, 
that it was received by the greater part of 
Christians, and that its antiquity cannot be 
questioned. 

He represents the First Epistle of Peter, 
and the First Epistle of John, as unquestion- 
able Scripture. J The Epistles of James and 
of Jude, the Second Epistle of Peter, and the 
Second and Third Epistles of John, he men- 
tions as controverted books, that is, as books 
received and read by the majority of Christ- 
ians as authentic Scriptures, though they 

* Hist. Eccles. Lib. ii. c. 17. 

t Euseb. H. E. Lib. ii. cap. 3, 25, 39. Jones on the Ca- 
non, Vol. I. p. 60. 

% H.E. Lib. iii. cap. 25. 



240 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



were doubted of by some, and were by some 
rejected. He does not speak of these with 
the same confidence as of the other books 
received into our canon ; but he represents 
them, as well as the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
and the Revelation of John, as books which 
had been generally known in the Christian 
church from the earliest times, and which 
ought to be regarded as next in authority 
and value to the books admitted without 
dispute to be canonical. # 

We are therefore entitled to consider the 
representations of Eusebius as distinctly as- 
certaining every book in the New Testament, 
as we receive it, to have been universally 
known to the Christian churches before his 
time, and to have been at least very general- 
ly acknowledged as authentic Scriptures. It 
ought to be stated however, that he has men- 
tioned the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Second 
Epistle of Peter, the Second and Third Epistles 
of John, the Epistle of Jude, and the Book of 
Revelation, as books which, though gene- 
rally received and read, had been controvert- 
ed. It appears also, that, down to his time, no 

* See Dr Lardner's Credibility, Part iu ch, 72. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 24 1 

public authority had been interposed to settle 
the New Testament canon ; and that, with- 
out determining what he thought had not 
been settled, his inquiries were intended to 
transmit to posterity all the information he 
could collect on the subject. 

The council of Laodicea, which gave its 
public sanction to all the epistles which Eu- 
sebius describes as controverted, did not meet 
till more than twenty years after his death. 

Athanasius, certainly the most distinguish- 
ed man of his time, became Bishop of Alex- 
andria in the year 326, and lived till the 
year 373. 

His personal history is so well known, 
that I have no occasion to do more than re- 
fer to the testimony he has given to the ca- 
nonical scriptures. 

. He most explicitly affirms every one of 
the books in our canon to be inspired Scrip- 
tures, specifying each of them in order, and 
ascribing them to the writers whose names 

they still bear, adding, " These are fountains 
of salvation. In these alone the doctrine of 
religion is taught. Let no man add to them, 
or take any thing from them." * 



* Festal or paschal Epistle. 



242 ON THE AUTHORITY OF 

He does not mention, with Eusebius, that 
any of those books were controverted ; and 
he is most particular in quoting at large, as 
inspired Scriptures, those which Eusebius 
says were controverted, viz. the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, (which he expressly ascribes 
to the apostle Paul) y the Epistle of James, 
whom he distinctly calls an apostle j the Se- 
cond Epistle of Peter ; the Second and Third 
Epistles of John ; the Epistle of Jude, and 
the Book of Revelation, which he asserts to 
have been written by the apostle John. He 
could not fail to have been well acquainted 
with all that Eusebius has related ; and there- 
fore we must conclude, from his large and 
numerous quotations from these books, as 
well as from his direct and frequent asser- 
tions of their canonical authority, that he 
considered the objections which individuals 
had made to them as of no importance ; and 
that this was the common opinion in the 
Christian churches, in which he represents 
those books as not only generally received, 
but constantly and publicly read. 

It appears, besides, that he sent to the Em- 
peror Constans a copy of the whole Bible, 
including the New Testament, which he de- - 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 9,13 

scribes as the whole inspired Scriptures, in 
several volumes. * 

Considering the time when Athanasius 
lived, the superior talents which distinguish- 
ed him, the controversies in which he sus- 
tained a most conspicuous part, his access 
to every source of information, and the 
acknowledged integrity of his public life, f 
his most explicit testimony to the canonical 
and exclusive authority of every book in the 
New Testament, as we receive it, must be 
admitted by every competent judge to be of 
the utmost importance ; and is certainly 
sufficient to outweigh all the minute objec- 
tions to particular books which have hither- 
to occurred to us. It has so much the more 
weight, that he had particularly applied his 
mind to ascertain the canon of the Old Tes- 
tament, as well as of the New, and was 
therefore better prepared than writers less 
acquainted with the subject, to estimate the 
evidence on which he admitted the autho- 
rity of the books in the New Testament 
which he received as inspired Scripture. 

* " Biblia integra, pluribusin lectoris commodum volumini- 
bus compacta. " Mill's Prolegomena, No. 745. 

+ See Mr Gibbon's character of Athanasius. Hist. chap. xxi. 
xxiii. xxv. 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



Cyril was Bishop of Jerusalem from the 
year 350, till about the year 386. 

In his catechetical discourses, which he 
wrote in his youth, and which are still ex- 
tant, he has given a catalogue of the books 
both of the Old and New Testament ; and of 
the New Testament he sets down the Four 
Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Seven 
Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, John, and 
Jude ; and mentions last, the fourteen Epis- 
tles of Paul. He does not mention the Book 
of Revelation ; and from the manner in 
which he pronounces all other books, besides 
those which he did mention, as foreign^ or 
unauthorized, it has been concluded that he 
did not receive it. * But it ought to be ob- 
served, that those terms he probably intend- 
ed to apply exclusively to the books which 
had been always considered as apocryphal — 
a description which he could not have in- 
tended for the book of Revelation ; and that 
when he afterwards advises, in the passage 
referred to, as he does, that no other books 
should be read, even in private, besides 
those in his catalogue, he might intend 
to say no more with regard to the Revela- 



* Cyril. Cateches. iv. N. 22. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 245 

tion, than that he did not consider it as a 
book intended for general reading, either in 
public or in private. He supposes all the books 
in his catalogue to be publicly and regularly 
read in the Christian churches ; and having 
before given a catalogue of the books of the 
Old Testament, he says of the Law and of 
the Prophets, of the Gospels and of the 
Apostolical writings, that they are all dictated 
and animated by the same Divine Spirit. * 

Epiphanius was a bishop in Constantia or 
Salamis, in the island of Cyprus, about the 
year 368. He held as canonical every part 
of the New Testament as we receive it ; and 
most particularly mentions every one of the 
epistles described by Eusebius as controvert- 
ed, not only as authentic and inspired books, 
but as books universally received by the 
Christian churches. He frequently quotes the 
Epistle to the Hebrews as an epistle of Paul ; 
the Epistle of James as the epistle of an 
apostle ; the Epistle of Jude as the writing of 
that apostle ; and the Book of Revelation as 
written by the apostle John in the isle of 
Patmos. He calls James and Jude the 

* Ibid Catech, xvii. N. 3. 



245 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



brothers of our Lord, as having been the 
sons of Joseph by a first wife ; and though 
he mentions, as a fact, that the sect of the 
Alogians had rejected not only the book of 
Revelation, " but all the writings of the 
apostle John," he ascribes their rejection of 
these books to an Antichristian spirit, and 
distinctly affirms that the book of Revela- 
tion, as well as all the rest of John's writ- 
ings, was received by the general consent of 
the Christian churches. 

He has left distinct catalogues of the 
books, both of the Old and of the New 
Testament ; and has most particularly as- 
serted, that " the same God is preached to 
us by the law, and the prophets, and the 
gospels and the apostles, in the Old and in 
the New Testament." * 

He was a writer as late as 392, and is sup- 
posed to have lived till about the year 403. 

Jerome, the only other writer whom I think 
it necessary to mention, was a man of most 
extensive erudition, and, though not without 
many enemies in the Christian church itself, 
and though he had undoubtedly some per- 
sonal weaknesses and prejudices, certainly 



* Epiph. de Fide, No. 18. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 247 

employed his superior talents to the end of a 
long and most industrious life, with most 
distinguished success and zeal, to promote 
the best interests of Christianity. He was 
born about the year 340, and is said to 
have lived to his ninetieth year. 

The learned industry of such a life, with 
such a capacity, and such opportunities of 
information as Jerome possessed, could not 
fail to be of the greatest importance to the 
Christian world. 

He travelled into different countries in 
early life, and at different times resided at 
Rome, in Gaul, at Antioch, in the deserts of 
Syria, and at Constantinople. At Antioch 
he was ordained a presbyter, under the con- 
dition that he should not be confined to a 
particular church. At Rome he laid the foun- 
dation of a library, and was in that city 
when the Emperor Julian died. In the year 
382 he was secretary to Pope Damasus ; and a 
few years afterwards he returned to the East, 
and settled at Bethlehem in Palestine, where 
he chiefly spent the remainder of his life. 

The keenness of Jerome's temper fre- 
quently, and not always without reason, ex- 
posed him to the dislike and severity of his 
contemporaries ; but it can scarcely be 



248 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



doubted, that it also added greatly to the 
effects of the industry and learning which 
distinguished him. 

I have no occasion here to mention his 
other works. But, if any individual was 
peculiarly qualified, by the history of his 
life, to give an accurate view of the scrip- 
tural canon, as the Christian church re- 
ceived it, Jerome had certainly this advan- 
tage. Well acquainted with the history of 
the Gospel from its commencement, and with 
all that had been written, either by its 
friends or its opponents, during the four 
first centuries,* he had every opportunity 
to distinguish between apocryphal writings 
and the books of known authority. As he 
employed a great part of his industry in 
preparing, or rather in correcting Latin 
translations of the whole Bible, we must 
suppose that a chief part of his attention 
and research was directed to this subject ; 
and that he, first of all, satisfied himself of 
the value and authenticity of the books 
which he translated. 

* In his book of illustrious men he has given a catalogue 
of all the Christian writers before him, concluding with his 
own name. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 249 



His canon of the Old Testament is ex- 
actly the Jewish canon. Of the books of 
the New Testament, there are two catalogues 
found in his works. The first of them con- 
tains precisely the books which we receive 
as canonical, and does not include one of 
the writings which are considered as apocry- 
phal. He mentions, indeed, the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, as rejected by some part of the La- 
tin church, on the supposition that it was not 
Paul's, and the book of Revelation as exclud- 
ed from the canon by some of the Greeks, 
as not having been written by the apostle 
John. " But," he adds, " we notwithstanding 
receive them both, by no means regarding 
the usage of the present times, but follow- 
ing the authority of the ancients." * 

This catalogue is contained in a letter ad- 
dressed to his friend Paulinus, and concludes 
with these remarkable words : " I beseech 
thee, my dearest brother, to live among these 
books, to meditate on these, to know no- 
thing different from them, and to seek for 
nothing more." 

* " Et tamen nos utramque suscipimus, nequaquam hujus 
temporis consuetudinem, sed veterum auctoritatem sequentes." 
Epist. ad Dardao. 



$50 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



His other catalogue of the books of the 
New Testament is found in a collection 
which he made of persons and places men- 
tioned in the Bible, alphabetically arranged. 
Its only differences from the first catalogue 
are these two : That the Epistle to the He- 
brews is mentioned generally among Paul's 
Epistles, without any supposition that it had 
been thought to have been improperly as- 
cribed to him ; and that the Epistle of Bar- 
nabas is added at the end of the catalogue, 
after the book of Revelation. 

There is good reason to believe that the 
Epistle of Barnabas was not inserted by 
Jerome himself, but is an addition made to 
this catalogue in a later age, with which he 
had no concern ; for, in another writing, he 
has expressly mentioned this epistle as an 
apocryphal book.* Among other things, we 
learn from him, that the Epistle of Jude had 
been questioned before, on account of the 
reference which is made in it to the apocry- 
phal book of Enoch ; and that, while the 
Epistle to the Hebrews was received as Paul's 

* " liarnabje Episiola, quae habetur inter scripturas apo- 
cryplias." Coin, in Ezek. cas. p. 43. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 2 51 

by all the Eastern and the Greek churches, 
as well as by some of the Latins, one of the 
objections made to it had arisen from the 
fact, that the Old Testament is quoted in it 
from the Septuagint version. * 

In the mean time, we have the testimony 
of Jerome, at the end of the fourth century, 
to every part of the New Testament scrip- 
tures, as having been (with scarcely any ex- 
ceptions,) universally received in the Christian 
church as inspired books ; and this testi- 
mony he gives after the most minute and 
learned inquiries into Christian antiquity, 
and into the practice and opinions of the 
church from its commencement. 

Ruffinus and Augustine, his most eminent 
contemporaries, have given exactly the same 
view of the Christian canon. We have Je- 
rome's testimony and theirs superadded to 
the judgment of every considerable man 
in the Christian church, whose writings 
have reached us, from the days of the Apos- 
tles to the end of the fourth century ; and, 
what is by no means unimportant, we have 
the unintentional attestation besides, of the 

* Com. in Isaiam, cap. 6. 



$5§ ON THE AUTHORITY OF 

most inveterate opponents of Christianity a& 
the earliest times after its promulgation, that 
they read precisely the same books, and, with 
very few exceptions, exactly the same texts 
which have come down to us as the oracles 
of the Christian faith. 

The New Testament canon, therefore, con- 
sidered simply as an historical fact, is, down 
to this period, completely ascertained. 

I have been able to mention only a very 
few of the writers within the four centuries 
referred to, because a more lengthened detail 
would not have suited the limits or the 
design of this discourse. It would have 
been easy to have produced a multitude of 
other testimonies, not less forcible or ex- 
plicit than those which have been specified. 
But the few examples which have been given, 
are quite sufficient to demonstrate the cer- 
tainty of the facts received as the early his- 
tory of Christianity, and the indisputable 
authority of the books, so universally ac- 
knowledged, as the inspired Scriptures of the 
Gospel. 

But it certainly gives additional strength to 
this argument, that no contrary history has 
ever been produced, in opposition to the nar- 



THE N EW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 253 

ratives of the evangelists and apostles. The 
earliest authors in opposition to Christianity, 
of whose writings we know any thing, in- 
stead of contradicting, have very distinctly, 
though unconciously, attested them. * In 
attempting to undermine the authority of 
the Gospel, they have certified every leading 
fact in its original history, by the most un- 
equivocal references to the birth, the infan- 
cy, the life, the doctrines, the miracles, the 
sufferings, the death, the resurrection, the 
ascension, of its Author ; and have incontes- 
tably demonstrated, that the narratives to 
which their arguments were applied, were 
precisely the same with those which we still 
read in the books of the New Testament.-]- 

It ought to be added, that, though it has 
always been an object of first importance 
to exclude from the Christian canon the 
writings which are commonly described as 
apocryphal, there is not one of all the apo- 
cryphal books, which appeared in the first or 
second centuries, and which has reached our 

* See Note GG. 

f See Origen contra Celsum. Dr Lardner's Jewish and 
Heathen Testimonies, chap, xviii. sect. 4. : and ibid. sect. 13. 
Summaries of the Work of Celsus, by Doddridge, Leland ? 
and Sherlock. 



254 ON THE AUTHORITY OF 

times, which contains any thing contrary, ei- 
ther to the narratives or to the doctrines of 
the canonical Scriptures. Whatever else is to 
be found in them, they give no different ac- 
counts of the substance or origin of our 
common faith ; and they profess to have no 
other object, than to confirm and illustrate 
the authority of the Gospel. 

It detracts nothing from the conclusion to 
which these circumstances should direct us, 
that there are books of the New Testament 
which were sometimes questioned or contro- 
verted. Christianity would still be the 
same, though it were to depend on the 
books about which there never was any con- 
troversy. But, even with regard to the books 
which were at times controverted, it is un- 
doubtedly true, that, when this fact is men- 
tioned, they are almost always represented 
as books generally known and read in the 
Christian assemblies. The reasons given for 
the doubts entertained whether they ought 
to have been received as authentic Scrip- 
tures, very commonly turn on the want of 
sufficient information with regard to the 
writers of them, which more enlightened in- 
quiries and more accurate traditions might 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. %55 

have furnished. At a time when there 
was no art of printing, and when manu- 
scripts were circulated with the utmost diffi- 
culty, the most authentic books must have 
reached different districts at very distant 
periods, and cannot be supposed to have 
been everywhere accompanied with the 
same evidence of their authority. It must 
have often required time and patient inquiry 
to ascertain their authenticity, even when 
they were generally read, from the manifest 
usefulness or importance of what they con- 
tained ; and it must have also frequently hap- 
pened, that their authority was sooner un- 
derstood and acknowledged by some indivi- 
duals, and by some societies or churches, 
than by ethers who had not as soon the 
same means of information. 

The Acts of the Apostles, and by far the 
greatest part of the apostolical Epistles, were 
received and recognized as inspired books, 
nearly at the same time with the four Gos- 
pels. Several of the books described as con- 
troverted, were not written till a later pe- 
riod ; and this circumstance should serve, 
in some degree, to account for the fact, that 
they were not so readily received afterwards 



256 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



as inspired books, when the rest of the New 
Testament had been probably already col- . 
lected into one volume. 

A number of apocryphal writings were be- 
sides circulated, and many of them under the 
names of apostles. But the scrupulousness 
with which any of the later writings were 
admitted into the list of inspired books, as it 
demonstrates the solicitude and caution of 
the Christian churches, with regard to the 
books which they received as canonical, is 
ultimately a proof of the authority of those 
books, rather than an argument against them. 
Their history, as well as their substance, ap- 
pears to have been narrowly investigated, 
before any of them obtained the place in the 
canon, which was at last universally assign- 
ed them. Nor is it possible to mention a 
> single example of another ancient book, of 
the authenticity of which we have any thing 
like the same evidence, or w r ith regard to 
which any thing like the same scrutiny was 
ever attempted in the times nearest to its ori- 
gin, which we have seen applied to the 
books of the New Testament. The Scrip- 
tures of the Gospel were canvassed, during 
four centuries, by one writer after another, 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 257 



till their authority was at last established, by 
the general consent of the Christian world. 

Even the writers of the apocryphal books, 
whoever they were, the most ancient as well 
as the latest, uniformly quote or refer to the 
books of the New Testament, with the re- 
spect due to the inspired oracles of God.* 
Whatever degree of weight or authority is 
assigned to these writings, it is uniformly em- 
ployed to sustain the authority of the ac- 
knowledged scriptures. 

Long before the end of the second cen- 
tury, every Christian writer referred to the 
books of the New Testament, as the only 
authentic record, either of the history or of 
the doctrines of the Gospel. 

This detail has been extended beyond the 
bounds originally designed ; though it com- 
prehends but a very inconsiderable propor- 
tion of the facts which belong to the argu- 
ment it has been employed to illustrate. A 
few examples only have been selected from 
a multitude of writings in the first four cen- 

* See the Epistles of St Clement, the Shepherd of Hernias, 
(in which there are rather allusions than quotations) the Epis- 
tle of Ignatius, &c. 

R 



258 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



turies, and of these, but a very limited and 
desultory sketch has been attempted. 

At the same time, from the facts which 
have been specified, some very important 
conclusions may be fairly deduced and illus- 
trated, 

1. That the four Gospels, the book of the 
Acts of the Apostles, thirteen epistles of the 
apostle Paul, the first Epistle of Peter, and the 
first Epistle of John, were known and circu- 
lated in the Christian church, and were uni- 
versally read in the Christian assemblies, as 
authentic scriptures, probably before the end 
of the first century, but certainly within a 
very few years of that time. 

2. That these several books were from the 
first ascribed to the individuals whose names 
they still bear, and never at any time to any 
other writers ; while the greatest part, if not 
the whole of them, appear to have been read 
and approved of as authentic scriptures, by 
some of the apostles who survived their 
publication, or by those apostolical men who 
were the companions and immediate dis- 
ciples of apostles. 

8. That every one of these books has there- 
fore the most unquestionable claim to the 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 259 

character of inspired and authoritative scrip- 
tures, in the church of Christ. 

4. That there were several individuals, and 
some churches, during the first four centu- 
ries, who hesitated to place the Epistle to the 
Hebrews in the canon, chiefly because they 
questioned the evidence on which it was as- 
cribed to the apostle Paul : On the other 
hand, that there is sufficient evidence, that 
this epistle was written and circulated in the 
apostolical age ; that it was very early read 
as an inspired writing among the believers ; 
that it was at all times the most general be- 
lief, that it had been written by the apostle 
Paul , and that it was ultimately received 
as a canonical book, by the general consent 
of the Christian church, 

5* That the seven Catholic epistles, as 
they have been called, viz. the second Epistle 
of Peter, the second and third Epistles of 
John, the Epistle of James, and the Epistle 
of Jude, are set down by many of the early 
writers, as books which were not at first uni- 
versally received. 

The second Epistle of Peter is frequently 
mentioned as a book that had been ques- 
tioned, chiefly, because his first epistle is 



260 



ON T THE AUTHORITY OF 



often referred to by writers who make no 
allusion to a second, and who do not seem to 
have ascribed to that apostle more than one 
epistle ; and because the second does not ap- 
pear in the earliest versions of the New Tes- 
tament. 

On the other hand, there appears to be good 
reasons for affirming, that the second epistle 
bears very striking internal marks of the 
same author's hand by whom the first epis- 
tle was written. The expressions in the first, 
from which it is clear that the writer had 
read the epistle to the Romans,* and, in 
connection with them, the direct reference 
to Paul's epistles, which the second contains ; 
the mention of the deluge in both epistles, 
with the circumstance that only eight per- 
sons were saved in the ark, f (a fact which, 
though easily collected from the book of Ge- 
nesis, is nowhere else mentioned in the 
New Testament) ; and a variety of similar 
coincidences,! which identify the subject of 
the second epistle with the design of the 

* 1 Peter i. 9, 10, for example, connected with Rom. ix. 
24, 25. 

+ 1 Peter, iii. 20. 2 Peter, ii. 5u 
t 2 Peter, iii. 1, kc. 



- TtiE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



26l 



first, leave no sound reason for any doubt, 
that both epistles have not the same autho- 
rity. It is evident, that the second epistle 
was written very recently before the apos- 
tle's martyrdom ; and because it might not 
have been immediately very generally circu- 
lated, this circumstance may have furnished 
a reason for its not having appeared in some 
of the earliest versions of the New Testa- 
ment, even though some books, and particu- 
larly the Gospel of John, and the Epistle of 
James, admitting these to have had a later 
date, are to be found there* 

Considering how ancient books were writ- 
ten and circulated, it is easy to understand, 
as has been already observed, why a later 
writing should have been often sooner, or 
more widely circulated than an earlier ; and 
why it might not have come as soon within 
the knowledge of a translator. The same 
circumstances would suggest a reason, why 
any writing, however authentic, might have 
at first been questioned, or might not have 
been at first so generally received, as to be 
immediately translated as a book of autho- 
rity. 

Certain it is, that the second Epistle of 
Peter, though it was for some time contro- 



262 



ON THE AUTHORITY OP 



verted, was very early known, and publicly 
read in the Christian churches. Though it 
was questioned by a few individuals at a 
later period, it was acknowledged as authen- 
tic scripture by some of the most enlight- 
ened men of the church, before the end of 
the second century ; * and it was ultimately 
received by universal consent into the Christ- 
ian church. 

The second and third Epistles of John 
were not as early, or as generally acknow- 
ledged as his first epistle. Some ground of 
hesitation arose, from the designation as- 
sumed by the writer; who does not call 
himself an apostle, but " the elder," a de- 
scription which has been sometimes repre- 
sented as if it had excluded the apostolical 
character. 

This was very probably the circumstance 
which occasioned a report (which, for aught 
that appears, may have had no other founda- 
tion) that there was a person who had the 
designation of " John the Elder," or presby- 
ter, who lived at Ephesus at the same time 

* Justiu Martyr, Irenaeus, &c. There is but one reference 
made to it by Irenaeus ; but that single example is sufficient to 
ascertain t|iat he received it. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 263 

with the apostle John, and who might have 
been the writer of this epistle. 

In connection with this supposition, it 
was observed, that neither in his Gospel, 
nor in his first epistle, does John the apostle 
take any designation to himself ; and there- 
fore that the writer who calls himself " the 
elder," conveys by that circumstance the 
idea of a different person. 

These doubts, however, were ultimately 
superseded, and the authority of the two epis- 
tles in question came to be universally ac- 
knowledged, when it was considered, 1st, 
That the style and tenor of all the three 
epistles of John have such an obvious resem- 
blance, that it is not easy to conceive that 
they were not all written by the same per- 
son. 2dly, That the two last epistles were 
originally addressed to individuals,andon that 
account could not have been as soon known 
and circulated as the first epistle. And 3dly, 
That though John uses the third person, when 
he speaks of himself in his Gospel, and has 
no designation in his first epistle, there was 
an obvious reason for his designing himself 
in his two last epistles, when he was in each 
addressing an individual, and not the general 



264 ON THE AUTHORITY OF 

body of believers ; and that the modest appel- 
lation which he there assumes, if it has a dif- 
ferent sense from the designation of " an 
apostle," may be considered as an expression 
of the delicacy and earnestness, with which 
he solicited the attention of his friends to 
his faithful and affectionate admonitions* 

It might have been added, that the exist- 
ence of a different person, called " John the 
Elder," has not been completely ascertained ; 
and that, supposing those two epistles to 
have been written by the apostle John, he 
was not singular in the designation he as- 
sumed, whether he called himself u the el- 
der," from his office, or from his age. The 
apostle Peter calls himself ? an elder," * both 
as having that character included in his of- 
fice of apostle, and as being, besides^ one of 
the oldest of Christ's disciples ; and he evi- 
dently uses this designation, to give weight 
to his apostolical exhortation. 

From the brevity of the epistles in question, 
there could not be many opportunities of 
quoting them. But the second is quoted by 
Irenaeus as early as the year 178 ; it is clearly 
referred to by Clement of Alexandria, in 194;, 



1 Peter, t. I* 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 265 



and both were ultimately received into the 
canon, as indisputable writings of the apostle 
John. 

The Epistle of James is also placed among 
the controverted books. But Eusebius ad- 
mits, that it was early received by the majo- 
rity of Christians ; that it was publicly read 
in most of the Christian churches ; and that 
it was included in the ancient Syriac version. 

The difficulty of ascertaining by whom it 
was written, is the only circumstance which 
occasioned any hesitation with regard to it. 

It was sometimes ascribed to James the 
son of Zebedee, and brother of John. But 
we can scarcely imagine, that, before the time 
of his early death, (in the year 44) he would 
have set himself to write such an epistle, 
while the great business of preaching Christ- 
ianity so completely engrossed the apostles, 
as to leave them time for almost no other de- 
partment of usefulness ; or that any occasion 
for such an epistle could have occurred be- 
fore his martyrdom. It is still less probable 
that this epistle was the first of all the ca- 
nonical books committed to writing, which it 
must have been, if it had been written by 
him. 

It has been supposed, and Eusebius him- 



266 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



self seems to have adopted this idea, that 
there were two other persons of the same 
name, to whom this epistle might be ascribed ; 
James, who presided in the church of Je- 
rusalem, and James, the son of Alpheus, 
and brother of Jude, one of the apostles. 
Though it cannot be denied that this was an 
ancient opinion, it is equally certain, that it 
was also asserted by most respectable writers 
of antiquity, that the descriptions applied 
to both relate to the same person, and that 
James, who presided in the church of Jeru- 
salem, was the apostle James, the son of Al- 
pheus. * 

This is by far the most probable opinion, 
All the descriptions given us suit the cha- 
racter of an apostle, and every account of 
James, the son of Alpheus. It is he whom 
the evangelist Mark describes, probably from 
his diminutive stature, j~ as " James the less." 
It is he, of whom the apostle Paul says, that 
our Lord <c was seen of James" after his re- 

* See Dr Lardner's Hist, of Evangelists and Apostles, ch. 
16". Epiphanius, in Dr Lardner's Credibility, Part II. ch. 84. 
Jerome de V. J. cap. 2. Augustine, Epist. 140. cap. 10. N* 
26. 

+ Mark xv. 40,— literally " James the little." 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 267 

surrection, * and " then of all the apostles." f 
It was most probably he to whom the apos- 
tle Peter referred, after the angel had released 
him from prison, where he directed the dis- 
ciples to go and relate his miraculous release 
" to James, and to the brethren." J For 
though this event happened in the year 44, the 
year of the martyrdom of James, the son of 
Zebedee, it is obvious, that it could not apply 
to him, as it was his death which gave occasion 
to Peter's imprisonment. It is the same James, 
to whom the apostle Paul was introduced, 
when he came first to Jerusalem, after his 
return from Arabia, and whom, in mention- 
ing this incident, he calls i% the Lord's bro- 
ther,'^ from his relation to the family of Jo- 
seph or Mary ; and it is he whom he classes 
with Cephas and John, as men <c who seem- 
ed to be pillars" || of the Christian church. 

The application of all these examples to 
an apostle seems to be beyond dispute ; and 
there is no other apostle to whom they can be 
applied but James the son of Alpheus. 

* Origen also thought this James was James the Lord's 
brother. Cora, on Matthew, 
f 1 Cor. xv. 7. 

% Acts xii. 17. § Galat. i. 19. || lb. ii. 9. 



268 ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



Is it not then more than probable, that 
two examples, yet to be mentioned, relate to 
the same person ? Is it not more probable, 
that he whom Luke represents, as having 
given the opinion which dictated the sen- 
tence of the council of Jerusalem, was an 
apostle, than that he was an office-bearer of 
any inferior order in the church ?* And when 
we read that the apostle Paul, when he came 
for the last time to Jerusalem, and u went 
to the house of James," f all the elder 'S, or 
apostles, being present, to relate the progress 
of his ministry among the Gentiles, is it not 
much more than probable, that this was the 
same James, whom he had so often seen be- 
fore ? 

These circumstances, when they are com- 
bined, certainly go far to identify James, 
the son of Alpheus, one of the twelve apos- 
tles, with James who presided in the church 
of Jerusalem ; and of consequence to shew,< 
that he must have been the writer of the 
Epistle of James. 

It may still be added, that when Jude, 
who was himself an apostle, designs himself^ 
in the address of his short epistle, " the 

* Acts xv. 13. t Ib.xxi. 18. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 269 

brother of James," he certainly supposed 
himself to mention, not only a name better 
known, and of more influence than his own, 
but the name of one who was at least of no 
inferior order to himself ;* and it is besides 
an obvious remark, that if James, the son of 
Alpheus, is not the person who presided in 
the church of Jerusalem, there is scarcely 
any thing related of him after our Lord's re- 
surrection. 

There is no argument relating to the au- 
thority of the Epistle of James, which has 
any countenance from antiquity, excepting 
that which depends on this question with 
regard to the writer. 

With a few exceptions, created by this 
question alone, the great majority of Christ- 
ian churches appear to have relied on its au- 
thenticity from the earliest times. 

The objection sometimes made to it, from 
a supposed opposition in its doctrines, to the 
doctrine of justification asserted by the a- 
postle Paul, is entirely a modern invention, 
and is not to be found in any one ancient 
book. 

There is, besides, no opposition whatever 



* Judey. i. 



270 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



between the doctrine of the two apostles.- 
The subjects which they profess to illustrate, 
are completely different, The apostle James 
is combating that mbst pernicious Jewish 
opinion, that faith in one supreme God, as 
opposed to polytheism, because it distin- 
guished the Jews from every other nation 
of the world, comprehended the substance 
of all religion, independent of its practical 
effects ; while the apostle Paul, in the texts 
referred to, is illustrating the Christian doc- 
trine relating to the justification of sinners 
before God, and the remission of sins, which 
the Gospel holds out to believers, not only 
independent of the Mosaical law, but inde- 
pendent also of their personal merits, and 
solely and exclusively on account of the merits 
and obedience of Christ; " the righteous- 
ness of God which is by faith of Jesus 
Christ ; — whom God set forth to be a propi- 
tiation through faith in his blood, that he 
might be just, and the justifier of him who 
believeth in Jesus." 

It is not probable, that James had ever 
seen the Epistles of Paul, before his own 
epistle was written, and wherever he seems 
to use the language of that apostle, he is ap- 
plying it to a subject, very remote from the 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 271 



argument of Paul's epistle. But on this 
point there is no occasion to say any thing 
more. 

The Epistle of Jude, another epistle said 
to have been controverted, is more frequent- 
ly quoted before the fourth century than the 
Epistle of James. 

It does not appear in the Syriac version ; 
but, according co Eusebius, it was well known, 
and very early, to the greater part of the 
Christian churches. 

Of its antiquity there can therefore be no 
reasonable doubt, though it is easy to ima- 
gine why it might not have been circulated 
before the date of the Syriac version. 

The chief objections to it have arisen from 
its supposed quotations from apocryphal 
books. 

Whether Jude intended to refer to any 
writings, or, as some judicious inquirers have 
thought, # has only alluded to existing tradi- 
tions, he certainly did no more than the 
apostle Paul, when he introduced to Timothy 
the names of Jannes and Jambres, f as oppo- 
nents of Moses, of whom there is no mention 

* Dr Lardner's Hist, of Evang. and Apostles, ch. 21. 
i 2 Tim. iii. 8. 



272 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



made in the Old Testament scriptures, Paul 
is supposed to have found their history in an 
apocryphal Jewish writing, entitled rt The 
Assumption of Moses." If he quoted this 
book of uncertain authority, in epistles which 
are completely attested, as he also quoted 
the Greek poets,* it cannot surely be a sound 
objection to the Epistle of Jude, that it con- 
tains quotations suited to his subject, from 
traditions generally known, or from books 
which, though without authority, were in 
common use among those to whom he wrote. 

Jude designs himself the brother of James, 
in the address of his epistle, and he has the 
same designation in the list of the apostles, 
given in the Gospel of Luke, f to distinguish 
him from Judas Iscariot. He was there- 
fore an apostle, though he calls himself only 
? the servant of Jesus Christ a designation 
which the apostle Paul also assumes, in ad- 
dressing his epistle to the Philippians. 

I have only to observe besides, that when 
we find the epistle of Jude quoted as authen- 
tic scripture, by such considerable men as 
Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian in the 
second, and Origen in the third century, there 



* Acts XTii. 28. 



f Luke vi. 16, 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 27$ 

can be no substantial reasons which should 
have led later writers to hesitate with regard 
to its original authority. 

I have attempted but a very limited re- 
view of the evidence for the canonical au- 
thority of the seven Catholic Epistles; which 
received this designation, because they were 
addressed, not to particular churches, but 
to Christians in general, wherever they were 
found. 

The first Epistle of Peter, and the first 
Epistle of John, were not controverted, but 
were universally received as inspired scrip- 
tures, from the time when the books of the 
New Testament were first circulated, or were 
first read in the Christian assemblies. 

With regard to the other five epistles, 
what has been here stated may enable us 
to form an estimate of the circumstances 
which ascertain their title to a place among 
the inspired scriptures. They were general- 
ly known and read, from the middle of the 
second century ; and though, from the cir- 
cumstances which have been explained, slight 
doubts with regard to some of them have 
been entertained by individuals, the result 
of every inquiry has been, the general ac- 

s 



274 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



quiescence of the Christian world in their 
inspired and canonical authority. 

It was before observed, that much of the 
hesitation which existed with regard to any 
of these books, turned on the question, whe- 
ther they had been written by apostles ; 
while it is evident, that the same objections 
might have been applied to the Gospels of 
Mark and Luke, neither of whom were 
apostles. 

The question itself, however, does not ap- 
pear to be of much importance. There 
were many inspired men, besides the apos- 
tles. The seven deacons were all men full 
of the Holy Ghost and of faith and 
Stephen, the first martyr, was certainly not 
the least distinguished among inspired dis- 
ciples. There were many others who, in 
the first age, <c spake with tongues and pro- 
phesied." And it does therefore seem to 
have been an unauthorized assumption, both 
in ancient and modern times, that no book 
could bear the character of inspired Scrip- 
ture, unless it could have been demonstrat- 
ed to have been written by an apostle. 

To establish the authority of the Catholic 
epistles, it would have been quite sufficient 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 27-5 



to have shewn, that they had been original- 
ly admitted, by the general sense of the 
Christian world, to have been inspired and 
authentic Scriptures ; and, as the evidence 
that they possessed this character, that 
they had been received and read in the 
Christian assemblies, and had been quoted 
and relied on by the ancient writers, from 
the times of the primitive churches. Had 
there been even more uncertainty than there 
is, with regard to the writers, this fact as- 
certained, would be sufficient to establish 
their authority. 

It has been shewn, however, that they 
can stand the test which has been, perhaps 
unnecessarily, applied to them ; and there 
can be no doubt that the minute inquiries to 
which different views of the subject have 
given rise, have added greatly to our know- 
ledge of the history and progress of the 
Christian faith. 

6. The Book of Revelation appears also to 
have been frequently mentioned as a contro- 
verted writing. 

But they who have examined either the 
ancient or modern opinions relating to it> 
are aware, that the majority of those who 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



have doubted or rejected it, have been chief- 
ly influenced by objections to its substance, 
or to its general character as a prophetical 
book. 

It must be admitted to be of difficult in- 
terpretation ; and has certainly been often 
employed to represent the most dissimilar 
events, and to sustain the most contrary opi- 
nions. 

It was applied, in the first ages, by the 
Millenarians, to support their doctrine of the 
reign of Christ on earth ; and, on this ac- 
count, was sometimes, though in contradic- 
tion to the most obvious facts, very incon- 
sistently ascribed to Cerinthus, who lived a- 
bout the end of the first, or early in the second 
century ; who, though he held the doctrine 
of the Millenarians, was more distinguished 
by opinions relating to the Creator of the 
x world, and the person and history of Christ, 
which are expressly contradicted in this book. 
It is absolutely certain that he was not the 
author. 

Others, who did not ascribe it to Cerin- 
thus, would not allow it to have been writ- 
ten by the apostle John, from their dislike 
to the Millenarian doctrine ; and they pro- 



THE KEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 277 

fessed to find circumstances in its form and 
substance to justify their opinion. 

They said, That the language of the Book 
of Revelation is so different from the style 
of John's Gospel and Epistles, that it can- 
not be ascribed to the same writer; and 
observed, that John has never once men- 
tioned his own name in his Gospel or Epis- 
tles, whereas the writer of the Book of Reve- 
lation begins by announcing his name, and 
repeats it in his address to the seven churches 
of Asia. What has certainly, in modern times, 
added considerably to the prejudices against 
the canonical authority of the Book of Reve- 
lation, it was at first positively rejected, and 
afterwards in milder terms questioned, by 
Luther, the great champion of the Reforma- 
tion, for reasons in some measure peculiar 
to himself ; from the figures and visions 
employed in it, which appeared to him un- 
like to the general tenor of the Gospel ; and, 
above all, from the general obscurity of the 
book, which he professed himself unable to 
understand ; * and, as he afterwards added, 

* Luther's Preface to his Translat. of the Rev. 1522. 



278 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



from the absurd and uncertain interpretations 
which it had received. * 

It might be easy to account for the dif- 
ference in the style, from the language of 
John's Gospel and Epistles, by the distance 
of time which had intervened, as well as by 
the obvious difference in the subject. The 
nature of the communications made to John, 
perhaps required the insertion of his name 
in the Book of Revelation ; and the mode in 
which they were received, is not so remote 
from every part of the Gospel, as Luther 
affirmed. Peter's vision at Joppa, and the 
form in which a revelation was made to 
him there; Paul's vision at Troas ; and the 
still more wonderful communication he re- 
ceived, when he believed himself caught up 
into the third heavens ; and the different ap- 
pearances of angels to different apostles, to 
admonish or protect them — are all examples 
to shew, that the other New Testament pro- 
phets and apostles were admonished by fi- 
gures and visions, as well as the writer of 
the Book of Revelation ; nor do the uncer- 
tain interpretations of this book, by any 



* Luther's Preface to his Translat. of the Rev. 1534. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



279 



means distinguish it from other prophetical 
writings, which relate to remote events. 

But all those reasons against the authority 
of the book of Revelation, to which much 
more weight hasbeen given than they seem en- 
titled to, must appear utterly unfounded and 
untenable, as objections to its canonical autho- 
rity, when it is stated, on the other side, that 
it was received, as inspired Scripture, as Ihave 
already shewn, by Justin Martyr, (within an 
hundred years of the death of Christ,) who ex- 
pressly ascribes it to the apostle John; by Me- 
lito of Sardis, who employed so much of his 
life in ascertaining the scriptural canon, by 
Irenaeus, by Clement of Alexandria, by Ter- 
tullian, by Origen, by Athanasius, by Epi- 
phanius, by Ambrose of Milan, by Ruffi- 
nus # by Jerome, and by a great majority 
of the most distinguished men in the Christ- 
ian world of whom we have any informa- 
tion, during the four first centuries ; and 
when we find it stated besides, that all these 
at least were agreed, in ascribing this book 
to the apostle John. 

Dionysius of Alexandria, who lived about 
the year 247, and who wrote the most criti- 



280 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



cal objections to its authority, which antiqui- 
ty has transmitted, from which the greater 
part of the modern objections have, in truth, 
been taken, though he doubts if it was writ- 
ten by John the apostle, acknowledges it as 
the writing of " some holy and divinely in- 
spired person" * 

Eusebius, who had some prejudices on the 
subject, from his aversion to the Millena- 
rian doctrine, though he did not go quite so 
far as to reject it, admits, that its antiquity 
is undeniable. Dr Lardner, certainly one of 
the most accurate and learned men who have 
ever professed to discuss subjects of this 
nature, has expressly said, " That it may be 
questioned whether any critique (on the sub- 
stance) can be sufficient to create a doubt con- 
cerning the author of this book, which was 
owned for a writing of John the apostle — 
before (the time of) the most early of those 
who have disputed its genuineness ;" f add- 
ing, that " this observation is agreeable to the 
judgments of some of the most eminent mo- 

* Dionysius of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Ec- 
t ies. Lib. vii. cap. 25. D. 

f Dr Larduer's Credibility 3 Part ii. chap. 43. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 281 



den* theologians — Grotius, Socinus, Flacius 
Illyricus, Mill," and others. * 

It was observed besides, that the writer of 
the Book of Revelation describes himself by 
the name of John, as banished to " the Isle of 
Patmos, for the Word of God and the testi- 
mony of Jesus and that antiquity has 
made mention of no person, bearing the 
name of John, to whom this description will 
apply, excepting the apostle John. 

The application of it to " John the Elder" 
(supposing such a person to have existed, 
distinct from the apostle,) has no countenance 
from the writers nearest to the apostolical 
age ; and, as far as appears, was an unau- 
thorized hypothesis of later times. Dionysius 
of Alexandria indeed, in the fragment before 
referred to, alludes to John, whose surname 
was Mark, f who left the apostle Paul at Per- 
ga in Pamphilia, along with Barnabas ; but 
he admits, that there is no account of his hav- 
ing been in Asia, or that he was the writer 
of the Book of Revelation ; and he forms a 

* Dr Lardner's Credibility, Part ii. chap. 43. 

f Beza was inclined to have ascribed the Book of Revelation 
to Mark, if he had not been convinced that it was justly ascrib- 
ed to the Apostle John. Dr Lardner's Cred. Part ii. chap. 43. 



282 ON THE AUTHORITY OF 

conjecture, that another person of the same 
name must have been at Ephesus, and have 
died there, where the apostle John is said to 
have also died ; because there (he adds) it is 
said " there are two tombs, each of them caU 
led John's tomb." * On this slight founda- 
tion, he builds a supposition, that the un- 
known John, of whose existence there is no 
other proof than the two tombs, of which he 
had merely a report, might have been the 
writer of the Book of Revelation. 

Eusebius. improving on this idea, but 
clearly distinguishing the person whom he 
calls " John the Elder" from the evangelist 
Mark, forms another conjecture, built partly 
on the tradition of the two tombs, and partly 
on expressions which he found in the books 
of Papias, that the Revelation " was probably 
seen by this second John, (who was not 
Mark) if it was not seen by John the apos- 
tle." t 

None of these conjectures seem to have 
had any sound foundation. The story of 
the two tombs is an unsupported tradition, 
which, though true, would have proved no- 

* Dr Lardner's Credibility, Part II. ch. 43. 
f Eii-eb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. iii. cap. 39. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 283 

thing ; for each of the tombs, according to 
the report, was said to have been the tomb 
of John the apostle. The designation of John 
" the Elder, or Presbyter," might have signi- 
fied nothing more than that John was the old- 
est Christian, and the last surviving apostle. 
But it appears clearly besides, that the term 
" presbyter," or " elder," was applied in the 
primitive church indifferently to apostles, 
and other ministers of Christ ; and Papias 
himself says this distinctly, in the following 
sentence : " I inquired after the sayings of 
the elders ; what Andrew, or what Peter had 
said; or what Philip, or what Thomas, or 
James had said ; or what John or Matthew 
were wont to say ?" * 

It signifies nothing, therefore, who were 
besides called " presbyters or elders," since 
it is clear that, in common language, this de- 
signation was given to apostles. 

Eusebius only doubted, and did not reject 
the Book of Revelation ; but his conjectures, 
which supposed it to have been written by a 
different person from the apostle, are not 
only vague and unsatisfactory, but are in 



* Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. iii. cap. 39. 



284 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



direct opposition to the explicit assertions of 
the most ancient and respectable writers, 
whom he admitted to have received this 
book, as the writing of the apostle John. 

The Book of Revelation made no part of 
the ancient Syriac version of the New Testa- 
ment ; but this circumstance is sufficiently 
accounted for, if we suppose, what is more 
than probable, that it had not been circulated 
at the date of that version ; which might very 
naturally have happened, even if that version 
had not been published before the middle of 
the second century, # 

I have only to add on this subject, that, in 
the catalogue of the New Testament books, 
sanctioned by the council of Laodicea, which 
met about the year 365, the Book of Revela- 
tion is omitted. But as the chief object of 
that council was to specify the canonical 
books which were to be publicly read in the 
churches, this omission signifies nothing 
more, than that they did not consider it as a 
book intended for general reading or edifi- 
cation, either among private Christians, or in 
the public assemblies. 

* See note EE., formerly referred to, 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 285 



In all the later ages, though there have 
been many individuals, besides Luther, who 
have been perplexed by the obscurity of pro- 
phecies, which it may require ages to unfold, 
the Book of Revelation has been universal- 
ly received by the Christian churches, as the 
writing of the apostle John, and as inspired 
Scripture. 

7. From the faint outline which I have at- 
tempted to trace of the original history of 
the New Testament books, imperfect as it 
is, I hope it will sufficiently appear, on 
the one hand, that the doubts which were 
at first entertained of a few of them, the 
Book of Revelation perhaps excepted, arose, 
as was before stated, rather from the difficulty 
of ascertaining the writers, than from any- 
thing contained in the substance of the 
books ; and, on the other hand, that, after the 
time of Eusebius, in the early part of the 
fourth century, there scarcely remained, in 
any of the Christian churches, a serious 
question on the subject. 

The history of ancient opinions, with re- 
gard to the books of the New Testament, 
while it detracts nothing from their authori- 
ty, as the writings of inspired men, is both 



286 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



edifying and consolatory, from the variety 
of circumstances in the original progress 
of Christianity, which it serves to com- 
bine and to illustrate. 

Speculative individuals, down to the pre- 
sent times, have sometimes revived and rea- 
soned on the exploded objections to particu- 
lar books ; and when they have done so, have 
only furnished new opportunities of confirm- 
ing their authority. But the canon of the 
New Testament has been established as we 
receive it, for at least fourteen centuries, to 
the general satisfaction of the Christian 
world; and was at no time essentially dif- 
ferent, in the four centuries which preceded 
them. 

It is an indisputable fact, at the same time, 
that there are no other books, besides the 
books of the Old and of the New Testament, 
which have ever been received by the Chris- 
tian church, as possessing the authority of 
inspired writings. 

Whatever differences have subsisted a- 
mong different sects, with regard to what 
the scriptures contain, every sect (with few 
exceptions indeed,) has professed to receive 
the same writings as authoritative scrip- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 28/ 

tures ; not only attesting their authority, by 
making common appeals to them, but guard- 
ing their original tenor, by the minute appli- 
cation of them to the controversies of succes- 
sive ages. 

The origin and transmission of no other 
book whatever, has any thing like the same 
series of concurring testimony to sustain 
it ; and, therefore, we may safely rely on 
the conclusion, to which this fact irresistibly 
directs us. 

If the books of the New Testament have 
indeed the authority which they claim, — and 
if the history of the gospel which they con- 
tain be admitted to be certain, — then is the 
evidence cf Christianity demonstrated from 
age to age. It comes to us from the original 
fountain of truth; and the testimony of 
every successive age, ought to add to the con- 
fidence with which we rely on " the word, 
which, by the Gospel, is preached to us 
which, at the first, began to be spoken by the 
Lord, and has been confirmed to us by them 
who heard him, as " the Word of the Lord, 
which endureth for ever." 

I have confined myself, in this discourse, 
to the external proof of authority in the 



288 



ON THE AUTHORITY OF 



books which are the standard of the Christ- 
ian faith. 

The nature of the facts and doctrines 
which the New Testament contains, will pre- 
sent to us the same subject in a different 
light ; and should furnish an argument from 
the substance of the gospel, still more strik- 
ing and forcible, than that which we receive 
from the history of the records in which it 
is contained. 



DISCOURSE VI. 



ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE NEW 
TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



1. Peter, L 25. 
u The word of the Lord endureth for ever ; 
and this is the word, which, by the Gospel, 
is preached unto you" 

The authenticity of the New Testament scrip- 
tures, which has been more strictly investi- 
gated, and is better ascertained, than the au- 
thority of any other ancient writing, should, 
by itself, be sufficient to prepare us to re- 
ceive whatever they contain, with the confi- 
dence due to the oracles of God. 

But we have a different view of the subject 
to arrest our attention, when we consider the 
nature of the facts which the New Testament 
relates, and the peculiar doctrines which it is 
employed to promulgate. 



290 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

The whole series of the gospel history is 
so extremely unlike every thing else in the 
annals of the world, that it is almost incon- 
ceivable that any thing but truth could have 
suggested the narrative. 

1. The personal history of the Author of 
the gospel gives an authority to the writings 
of the New Testament, which the most que- 
rulous infidelity will never be able to sub- 
vert. 

The life of Christ consists of a succession 
of the most natural, and yet most unexpect- 
ed incidents, which we can imagine to be 
combined. They are not arranged accord- 
ing to any ordinary rule ; and yet every part 
of the relation has the most striking and 
interesting form. 

Our Lord appears in the lowest condition 
of human life. With none of the advan- 
tages of education, and with no visible 
protection or resources, he discovers, from 
his first appearance in the world, such a 
depth of understanding and knowledge, 
and such profound discernment and wis- 
dom, as draw from the most incredulous 
of his countrymen, and from those who were 
best acquainted with the history of his early 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 2 ( Ji 

life, the most undissembled expressions of 
astonishment. " How knoweth this Man 
letters, they said, having never learned * 
u Whence hath this Man this wisdom ? Is 
not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mo- 
ther called Mary ; and his brethren, James, 
and Joses, and Simon, and Judas ? and his 
sisters, are they not all with us ? Whence 
then hath this man all these things ?" j~ 

With none of the usual opportunities to 
cultivate his faculties, he comes forward, at 
once, the greatest public teacher whom the 
world has ever seen : And though he travels, 
during the whole course of his public life, 
from one corner of Judea and Galilee to an- 
other, without possessing a home, or a fixed 
habitation anywhere, he preserves such a 
uniform dignity of character, as fills the 
most inveterate of his adversaries with an 
irresistible awe, while, among his disciples, 
he is always as much the object of reverence, 
as of affection. 

Everywhere he addresses the multitudes 
on the most important subjects of morals 
and religion. He says nothing to conci- 

* John, vii. 15. + Matthew, xiii. 55, 56, 



292 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

Hate, and nothing to gain any class of the 
people. On the contrary, he warns the 
poor without reserve, that, while " the foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the air have 
nests, he has not where to lay his head." * 
With the same sincerity, he says to the rich 
man, " How hardly shall they that have 
riches enter into the kingdom of God I" f 
" Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, 
and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and 
come and follow me." £ He neither with- 
holds nor disguises any truth, to attract dis- 
ciples, either among the high or the low ; 
but, with the dignified impartiality and dis- 
cernment of a teacher sent from God, he 
gives to every individual, the fair admoni- 
tion which is best suited to his state of 
mind, and to his peculiar character. 

He addresses, indeed, every class of the 
people in terms of unaffected gentleness and 
mildness. Yet it is equally true, that, with- 
out any respect of persons, he uniformly at- 
tacks the prejudices of every class: He re- 
bukes their vices without reserve : He un- 
veils their hypocrisy : and, preserving al- 



* Luke ix. 58. t Ibid, xviii. 24. + Matth. xix. 21. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 293 

ways the dignified language of the wisdom 
which comes from above, he seldom argues, 
and he never declaims. 

This last circumstance forms a most pro- 
minent feature in the character of Christ. 
Even when his apostles reason or exhort, 
there is an impassioned fervour in their lan- 
guage, which convinces us that they were 
men of like passions with ourselves; and that, 
while they were clothed with the authority 
of their Master, they expressed their earnest- 
ness like other men. 

But, when their Master speaks, it is in the 
calm and dignified language of simple and 
unvarnished truth ; in language, which pos- 
sesses none of the common arts of persua- 
sion, and which, notwithstanding, has an au- 
thority, as soon as it is heard, which his 
most enlightened and most inveterate oppo- 
nents attempt not to controvert. Against 
their wishes, and in spite of themselves, they 
are compelled, by the irresistible impression 
of his doctrine, to acknowledge, that " He 
taught them as one having authority, and not 
as the scribes" * of Judea. They stand in awe 



* Matthew vii. 29. 



294 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

of the Instructor whom they affect to despise ; 
and they hear his doctrine with astonish- 
ment, at the moment when they lie in wait 
to ensnare him. 

The calmness, the good sense, the unde- 
niable wisdom of every sentence which he 
pronounces, have an irresistible effect, which, 
in the same circumstances, the most impas- 
sioned eloquence would have failed to ac- 
complish. 

While the instruction of the people seems 
to be the business to which he devotes himself, 
he is, at the same time, as constantly em- 
ployed in performing the most striking acts 
of mercy and beneficence, — in healing the 
diseased, — in curing the lame, — in restoring 
sight to the blind,— and in relieving the 
miserable, — as if these miracles of mercy had 
been the chief objects of his life. But his 
miracles are performed, as his instructions are 
given, with all the native simplicity of his 
character. They are neither ostentatiously 
displayed, to astonish the multitude, nor are 
they industriously concealed, to avoid the eye 
of malignity. They are presented equally, 
and both alike, to the view of his disciples 
and of his adversaries. He gives the instruc- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 295 

tion which every occasion appears to sug- 
gest : He does the miracle of mercy, when- 
ever the opportunity occurs ; and, in either 
case, he neither courts the attendance of fol- 
lowers, who are already his disciples, or who 
may afterwards believe on him, nor does he 
shun the presence of the most insidious mur- 
murers who watch for the occasions to en- 
snare or to accuse him. His wisdom and 
power are equally independent of his dis- 
ciples, and above the malice of his enemies. 

Everything in our Lord's conduct is unaf- 
fected and natural ; and even opposite quali- 
ties, combined in his character, neither lessen 
its consistency, nor detract from its perfec- 
tion. " We cannot but observe in him, says 
an eminent divine, a surprising mixture of 
humility and greatness, of dignity and self- 
abasement, — both equally instructive in their 
turn. Sometimes we find him solemnly as- 
serting his divinity ; at other times, he is the 
meekest and the most lowly of the sons of 
men. Sometimes he is reminding his fol- 
lowers, that he could command legions of anr- 
gels, if it were necessary ; at other times, he 
apprizes them, that he is more destitute of 
common conveniencies, than even the beasts 



296 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP 



of the field, or the birds of the air. He tells 
them now, that a greater than Solomon is 
among them ; and then he is found washing 
the feet of his disciples. He detects, and 
rebukes with authority, the flattery of the 
proud designing querist ; but he satisfies 
every scruple, and resolves every doubt, of 
the sincere and humble searcher after truth, 
even before they can be intimated. He 
cherishes the broken-hearted, — he comforts 
the desponding, — he strengthens and supports 
the weak and the wavering,— he condescends 
to the infirmities of the meanest ; but he ne- 
ver, in a single instance, gratifies the vanity, 
or gives way to the petulance of the greatest. 
The mixture of the various, and seeming- 
ly opposite qualities, which constitute this 
contrast, did not proceed from any variation 
in his own temper, but is wholly to be im- 
puted, to the different circumstances and cha- 
racters of those with whom he conversed. 
He steadily adheres to the same principle, 
and constantly pursues one plain and uni- 
form design." * 

There is no intention shewn by the writers 

* See Bishop Law's " Reflections on the Life and Charac- 
ter of Christ," p. 291, 292, 393. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 297 

of the Gospels, to describe the character of 
Christ, otherwise than by the simple narra- 
tive of his life. * But, in that narrative, 
whether we consider his personal qualities, 
or his public ministry, — his devotion to God, 
or his kindness and fidelity to men, — the 
employment of his solitary hours, or the 
business of his active life, — the temper of 
his mind among his friends and associates, 
or the character which he preserves in his in- 
tercourse with every other class of the peo- 
ple, — every excellence appears to be combin- 
ed, which can either adorn or dignify human 
nature. And, what is of first importance on 
the subject, the positive virtues of his life 
are completely free from every conceivable 
blemish or defect. 

In the temper or conduct of all other men, 
whose public or personal history has reached 
us, their purest virtues are not only charge- 
able with most essential defects, but they are 
polluted, in the best of them, by positive and 
even aggravated vices, f But, in the life of 
Christ, there is not only no defect or blemish 

* See Note HH. 

+ See Discourse I. p. 29 — 32. Paley's Evidences, Vol. II. 
p. 72, 73. Grotius de V. R. C. Book II. ch. 18. 



2QS OX THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



to be found, but he, and, of all the human 
race, he alone, could publicly appeal his un- 
spotted purity to his most inveterate oppo- 
nents, without the hazard of a reply. " Which 
of you," he said, w convinceth me of sin ?" * 
a He did no sin ; neither was guile found in 
his mouth." f He, and he alone, was 61 holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin- 
ners ; the holy One and the Just ; the holy 
One of God." | 

This is the representation of the gospel ; 
and it is justified by every fact in the history 
of his life. Kis whole conduct, from his 
birth to h.s death, is one continued series of 
pure and active virtues, equally untinctured 
by weakness and by sin. 

To understand his character completely, 
we must, however, follow him to the last 
scene of his wonderful life. 

With all the virtues which distinguish him, 
he is hated and persecuted by the first men 
in the state and in the priesthood of his coun- 
trv ; till, in the end, betrayed by one, and for- 
saken by the rest, of his disciples, he is im- 
prisoned, and arraigned as a malefactor be- 

* John, Tiii. 4-6. t 1 Peter, ii. 22. + Heb. vii. 26. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 299 

fore an unjust tribunal ; and, though there 
is nothing preferred against him, but the 
wretched and contradictory inventions of 
malignity, which do not prevent even the 
judge, who pronounces the sentence of death, 
from bearing witness to his innocence, he is 
condemned to crucifixion with the most de- 
spicable criminals, and expires, at last, in the 
most exquisite agonies, amidst the loud and 
reiterated execrations of the whole multitude 
of Judea and Galilee, whom it had been the 
business of his life to instruct and to bless. 

The circumstances of his death would be 
infinitely interesting, though we had no in- 
formation of the temper of his mind, or of 
the great design to which his death was sub- 
servient. But, when his death is contem- 
plated as the great sacrifice appointed by the 
wisdom of God for the redemption of the hu- 
man race ; — when he is considered as a 
voluntary sufferer, who gives his life for 
the salvation of others, in direct obedience 
to the command of God ; — when the un- 
exampled patience and dignity with which 
his sufferings are supported is observed ; — 
and when his prayer for forgiveness to his 
unrelenting tormentors, as the unconscious 



300 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

instruments of this awful providence,is added 
to all these circumstances — his death acquires 
an interest within the mind of every enlight- 
ened believer, above every other event in the 
history of the world. " The good Shepherd," 
he says, tC giveth his life for the sheep. No 
man taketh my life from me, but I lay it 
down of myself. I have power to lay it down, 
and I have power to take it again : this com- 
mandment have I received of my Father. 
The cup which my Father giveth me to drink, 
shall I net drink it ? Not my will, but thine 
be done." Under the pressure of the most 
aggravated torments, his last prayer is offered 
for mercy to his murderers ; " Father, for- 
give them, for they know not what they do t" 
The personal character of Christ may be 
safely trusted to his enemies themselves. Let 
us hear it from a most inconsistent, but most 
eloquent unbeliever. After stating the sup- 
position, that the history of Christ could be 
represented as fictitious, he subjoins, " No, 
my friend, it bears not the marks of fiction. — 
Where could Jesus learn that pure and sub- 
lime morality, of which he alone hath given 
both precept and example ? The greatest wis- 
dom was made known amidst the most bi- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 301 

gotted fanaticism, and the simplicity of the 
most heroic virtues did honour to the vilest 
people of the earth. What prepossession, 
what blindness must it be, to compare the 
son of Sophroniscus to the Son of Mary ! 
What an infinite disproportion there is be- 
tween them ! The death of Socrates, philoso- 
phising with his friends, appears the most 
agreeable that could be wished for ; the death 
of Jesus, in the midst of agonizing pains, 
abused, insulted, cursed by a whole nation, 
is the most horrible that could be feared. 
Socrates, in receiving the cup of poison, bles- 
sed, indeed, the weeping executioner who ad- 
ministered it ; but Jesus, in the midst of ex- 
cruciating tortures, prayed for his merciless 
tormentors. Yes ; if the life and death of 
Socrates are those of a sage, the life and death 
of Jesus are those of a god." * 

This eloquent description from an unbe- 
liever was long before anticipated by a Ro- 
man officer, who was neither a Christian nor 
a Jew: but who had, from his profession, a 
station given him in charge, beneath the cross 
of Christ. When he heard the exclamation 



* Rousseau's Emile, Vol. II. p. 167. Sec Note IF. 



302 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

of Jesus in the midst of his agonies, and 
heard his prayer for his merciless tormentors, 
and heard him, immediately before he gave 
up the ghost, say at last, with a loud voice, 
" It is finished — at that moment this hea- 
then officer cried out, with irresistible con- 
viction, " Truly this was the Son of God."* 
The whole of this narrative, if it were only 
considered as containing the facts which have 
been detailed in succession, will, in all ages, 
be read by every fair and impartial man with 
the most lively interest and astonishment. 
Such a life, and such a death, are not to be 
found, in all the history of the world besides. 
And yet the whole narrative bears such in- 
trinsic marks of authenticity, that it would 
not be easy to conceive it possible, that such 
a relation could have been given from any 
cause, but the certainty of the facts which it 
contains. 

The personal history of Christ, as a pledge 
for the authority of his mission, and for the 
purity of the faith which he promulgated, 
will always make an irresistible impression, 
if it be fairly and conscientiously examined ; 



* Matthew, xxvii. 54. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 303 

and it is contemplated by every sincere be- 
liever, with perpetual delight and exultation. 

2. The nature of the doctrines of Christ, 
and the form and circumstances in which he 
delivered them, are striking confirmations of 
the authority of the Gospel. 

As they are laid down by himself, they are 
equally removed from the disadvantages of 
the figurative and typical language, of the an- 
cient revelation, and from the mystical ob- 
scurity which religious doctrines have so of- 
ten assumed in later times. He presents 
them to us, in the native simplicity of incon- 
trovertible truths ; as facts, rather than as 
principles ; as facts which involve the great- 
est interests of the human race, which he was 
sent into the world both to reveal and to 
realize. 

" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness," he says, " even so must the Son 
of Man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have eternal 
life. For God so loved the world, that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life. For God sent not his Son 
into the world, to condemn the world, but 



304 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



that the world through him might be saved. 
He that believeth on him is not condemned ; 
but he that believeth not, is condemned al- 
ready, because he hath not believed on the 
only begotten Son of God." * — " For the Son 
of man is come to seek and to save that which 
was lost."f ^ e sa y s a l so > " The Son of Man 
came not to be ministered unto, but to mini- 
ster, and to give his life a ransom for many." % 
" He shall be betrayed into the hands of men, 
and they shall kill him, and the third day he 
shall be raised again." || On another occa- 
sion, he says, a Except a man be born again, — 
born of water and of the Spirit, — he cannot 
see the kingdom of God. The wind blow- 
eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
cometh, or whither it goeth ; so is every one 
that is born of the Spirit. § Your heavenly 
Father will give the holy Spirit to them that 
ask him." % And having stated, that " the 
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed 
all judgment to the Son," he adds, that " the 
hour is coming, in which all that are in their 



* John iii. 14 — 18. 
% Matthew xx. 28. 
% Matthew iii. 3, 5, 8. 



+ Luke xix. 10. 

U Matthew xvii. 22, 23. 

1[ Luke xi. 1 3. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



305 



graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
forth ; they that have done good, to the re- 
surrection of life, and they that have done 
evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." * 
These are, in general, the terms in which 
our Lord delivers the substance of the doc- 
trines which are peculiar to the Gospel, 
Without any lengthened details, he gives 
them all the illustration which is essential to 
their practical effect : and though there were 
certainly explanations reserved for the time 
when the Holy Ghost was to descend on the 
apostles, " to guide them into all truth, and 
to shew them things to come,"f they contain, 
in the simple and compressed form in which 
he delivers them, more complete and intelli- 
gible information, than is to be found in all 
the ancient scriptures, or in all the writings 
of former ages, concerning the dispensations 
of God to the human race ; concerning the 
guilt and ruin which sin brought into the 
world ; concerning the expiation of sin, and 
the regeneration of sinful men ; concerning 
the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of 
the great day, and the last condition of man- 
kind. 

* John, v. 28, 29. f John, xvi. 13. 

y 



306 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



His doctrines, delivered with a precision 
so well suited to their subject, so worthy of 
God, and so manifestly adapted to the cir- 
cumstances of men, though far above the 
sphere of human research, are yet so con- 
solatory after they are known, that the infor- 
mation which they contain appears, in its 
first aspect, to be of the greatest possible in- 
terest and importance to the human race. 

It must also be observed, that the doc- 
trines of Christ are not laid down accord- 
ing to any of the rules of arrangement which 
human sagacity has invented. Though their 
relation to each other be sufficiently apparent, 
he does not present them in any regular or 
connected series. He often employs familiar 
illustrations, to assist rhe apprehensions of his 
hearers, or to expose the folly of ignorant and 
querulous unbelief; but his doctrines are 
more commonly announced with sententious 
brevity, as incontestibie truths, which he is 
commissioned to deliver with the authority 
of God. 

They are, besides, very frequently intro- 
duced in connec tion with incidental occur- 
rences in his personal history. 

When Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, 
came to him by night, to express what he was 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 307 



then afraid to avow before the world, — his as- 
tonishment at the miracles, which, to his pri- 
vate conviction, had confirmed the authority 
of our Lord's mission as a teacher sent from 
God, — a Jesus answered and said to him, Ve- 
rily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." * This was a language which Nicode- 
mus did not comprehend, and which, it im- 
mediately appeared, had only served to height- 
en his astonishment. Jesus having there- 
fore told him in reply to his question, " How 
can a man be born again when he is old ?" that 
he did not speak of a natural birth, but of a 
spiritual regeneration ; takes chis occasion to 
affirm, without farther explanation, the neces- 
sity of the general regeneration of the human 
race, of whom he represents this as the univer- 
sal condemnation, that, with all the informa- 
tion which was given them, w they loved dark- 
ness rather than light, because their deeds were 
evil affirming, at the same time, that the 
great design of his mission into the world 
was this, " that whosoever believeth on him 
might not perish" in his ignorance or guilt, 
* but might have everlasting life." f 

* St John, ill. 3. f St John, iii. 16, 19. 



308 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

When the twelve apostles strive with one 
another for pre-eminence, their Master takes 
an opportunity, from this incident, to explain 
to them the true character of his mission 
from God ; which was so far from having 
been designed to serve the purposes of per- 
sonal aggrandizement or dominion in this 
world, either to himself or his disciples, that 
he was expressly sent, " not to be minister- 
ed unto, but to minister, and to give his life 
a ransom for many." * This representation 
was completely adapted to the circumstances 
which gave occasion to it, as a forcible re- 
proof to the apostles, for their private jeal- 
ousies and inconsiderate ambition ; but it is, 
at the same time, a most precise and striking 
exposition of an important article of doctri- 
nal revelation peculiar to the Gospel. 

From the murmurs of the Jews at his treat- 
ment of Zaccheus the publican, he takes oc- 
casion to represent, not only the general de- 
pravity of the world, as that which had given 
occasion to his mission, but the intention of 
his mission, as appointed for salvation to the 
worst and most hopeless characters among 
the human race, f 

* Matthew, xx, 28. + Luke, xix. 7—10. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 309 

And, to mention no other examples, when 
one asks him, saying, " Lord, are there few 
that be saved ?" after giving the admonition 
to the individual which his question required, 
he embraces this occasion to explain to the 
Jews who surrounded him, the gracious ex- 
tension of the blessings of salvation under 
the Gospel, far beyond the pale of the Jewish 
church, to every people under heaven, who 
<c shall come from the east and from the west, 
and from the north and from the south, and 
sit down in the kingdom of God." * 

In these and many other examples, the doc- 
trines of Christ receive the place assigned 
them in the Gospels, from the incidents 
which he employs to convey them. They 
lose nothing from this fact, either in the pre- 
cision with which they are represented, or in 
the relation which they bear to each other. 
And the singular form in which they are se- 
parately given, serves not only to distinguish 
their Author from every other teacher, and 
by the natural and inartificial character which 
they derive from it, to give us a most pecu- 
liar pledge of their authority \ but it serves 



* Luke, xiii. 23— 29. 



310 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



to incorporate with the most profound reve- 
lations of unsearchable wisdom and truth, 
their practical application to the conditions 
of mankind, and to the conduct of human 
life. 

The morality inculcated by Christ, if all 
the circumstances involved in it be fairly 
estimated, is not, perhaps, less peculiar to 
him, than the general doctrines which more 
prominently distinguish the Christian faith. 

It is the morality of Christ, and that alone, 
of which we can say, with the confidence of 
truth, that it is without defect, and with no 
unhallowed mixture ; — that it is a morality 
which embraces the whole extent of human 
obligations ; — that it is the high-toned mo- 
rality which reaches the thoughts and intents 
of the heart; and which rejects, as unworthy 
of God and men, all the external obedience 
to the divine law which is not the result of 
pure affections. It is a morality, of which 
love to God and to our neighbour, and the 
habitual sense of indispensible duty to both, 
are the governing principles and sources. It 
is a morality deeply founded on the faith of 
the invisible God, " who seeth in secret, and 
will reward openly £■ and on the habitual 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRTPTURES. 311 



persuasion of his perpetual agency " who 
will give the holy Spirit to them that ask 
him." 

Compare the morality of Christ with all 
that was in the world before, and it will be 
found to stand alone, as the only pure and 
efficient morality which has ever been taught 
among mankind. 

Compare it with the doctrines of Greece, 
of Rome, or of India — of the western or of 
the oriental philosophy. Whatever maxims 
are derived from these sources, which ge- 
nuine morality can adopt, are completely lost 
in the pernicious usages with which they are 
incorporated,- — in the detestable vices which 
they tolerate, — in the artificial virtues which 
they allow to usurp the place of genuine sanc- 
tity, — and in the essential duties which they 
exclude from the estimate of human obliga- 
tions. * 

Compare it with the doctrines of the Jews 
themselves, who had certainly the principles 
given them of a sound morality. Though 
infidelity delights to misrepresent, and af- 
fects to despise the Jews, no well-informed 

* See Discourse I. p. 30—33. 



512 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

man is entitled to deny, that even their prac- 
tical morality raised them far above every 
other people. 

But, with all their advantages, they had 
still much to learn on the doctrines of moral 
obligation. Something more than the insti- 
tutes of Moses was necessary to render their 
law complete ; and to rescue it, besides, from 
the corruptions introduced by their arbi- 
trary interpretations and traditions. 

It became, therefore, one of the first ob- 
jects of our Lord's public ministry, to demo- 
lish the whole fabric of Jewish casuistry, and 
to give to the law of God, not only its pri- 
mitive simplicity, but its genuine spirit and 
authority. 

His sermon on the Mount is a complete 
model of clear and definite instruction in mo- 
ral duty, into which there is no article intro- 
duced, which he leaves either doubtful or am- 
biguous — in which he not only distinctly ex- 
pounds the prohibitions of the ancient law, 
but places, in opposition to the things pro- 
hibited, a variety of duties, which neither the 
terms of the law, nor the explanations of the 
Jews, had ever expressly recognized ; — in 
which he applies the law of duty to the se- 

8 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 313 

cret thoughts and dispositions of the heart, 
as much as to the control or regulation of 
external conduct ; and in which the genuine 
spirit of pure and practical morality is op- 
posed to all the loose and pernicious tenets, 
by which false or incompetent instructors 
perverted the people, teaching for doctrines 
the commandments of men. * 

Every branch of the morality of Christ is 
delivered in the same spirit — equally free 
from every tincture of worldly policy, and 
from all the licence which had before been 
given to the indulgence of perverted pas- 
sions. 

This is not all. For, on the other side, the 
morality laid down by Christ was as far re- 
moved from the unfounded restrictions and 
assumptions of Pharisaical zeal or hypocrisy, 
as from the loose and dangerous opinions 
which were employed to make void the au- 
thority of real obligations. 

His doctrine, with regard to the observa- 
tion of the Sabbath, — with regard to the law- 
ful association with men of different charac- 

* See Bishop Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium, Book ii. ch. % 
p. 519, 520, &c. 



314 



ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP 



ters in common life, — with regard to the os- 
tentatious display of religious observances, 
or of practical duties, — with regard to alms- 
giving, — with regard to the forgiveness of 
injuries, — with regard to the subjection due 
to civil authority, — and on a great variety of 
similar points, — are in direct opposition to 
all the false, artificial, and unauthorized te- 
nets, by which ignorance or hypocrisy im- 
pose on the consciences of men, and pervert 
the sound wisdom and simplicity of the di- 
vine law. 

The form in which the morality of Christ 
is laid down in the Gospel, must not be pas- 
sed over in silence. 

Though his discourses on the mount and 
on the plain, contain a continued series of 
instruction, his morality in both is laid 
down in the same sententious form with his 
general doctrines. Though he gives illus- 
trations on many of the subjects which oc- 
cur, when he professes to correct the false 
maxims which prevailed, and opposes to them 
a purer and more authoritative law than the 
Jews possessed, still he argues less than he af- 
firms. He opposes his own authority, as a 
teacher come from God, to every corrupt 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 515 

maxim, which he condemns as a perversion 
of genuine morality. 

The examples, which illustrate these re- 
marks, of which only a few can be men- 
tioned, are full of salutary and impressive 
instruction for every age of the world. 

" Ye have heard, says our Lord, that it 
hath b^en said by them of old time, Thou 
shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill, shall 
be in danger of the judgment. But, I say 
unto you, that whosoever is angry with his 
brother without a cause, shall be in danger 
of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to 
his brother Raca, shall be in danger of the 
council ; but whosoever shall say, thou fool, 
shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if 
thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there 
rememberest that thy brother hath ought 
against thee, leave there thy gift before the 
altar ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and 
then come and offer thy gift." * 

" Again, ye have heard that it hath been 
said by them of old time, Thou shalt not 
forswear thyself, but shalt perform to the 
Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear 



* Matthew, t 21—24. 



316 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's 
throne, nor by the earth, for it is his foot- 
stool ; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city 
of the great King ; neither shalt thou swear 
by thy head, because thou canst not make 
one hair white or black ; but let your con- 
versation be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatso- 
ever is more than these cometh of evil." * 

6C Ye have heard that it hath been said, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate 
thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your 
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good 
to them that hate you, and pray for them 
that despitefully use you and persecute you ; 
that ye may be the children of your Father 
which is in heaven ; for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and 
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 
For if ye love them that love you, what re- 
ward have you ? Do not even the publicans 
the same ? And if ye salute your brethren 
only, what do ye more than others ? Do not 
even the publicans so ? Be ye therefore per- 
fect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." f 

He says again, " Not that which goeth in- 
to the mouth defileth a man ; but that which 

* Matthew, t. 33—37. + Ibid. v. 43—48. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



317 



cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 
— For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false- 
witness, blasphemies ; these are the things 
which defile a man."* 

Thus was the morality of Christ brought 
home to the understandings of those who 
heard him ; but, at the same time, delivered 
with the sententious authority of the Law- 
giver, in opposition to every corrupt and per- 
nicious maxim, which had served to mislead 
or pervert them ; or which can, in any age, 
be employed to evade or weaken the obliga- 
tion of indispensible duties. 

On other occasions, his moral instructions, 
like his general doctrines, are suggested by 
the incidents which occur to him. 

When he is surveying the beauty of the 
fields, and the multitude of the fowls of hea- 
ven, he seizes this occasion to inculcate the 
dependence which ought to be placed by 
devout men on the providence of their Fa- 
ther in heaven, who feeds the ravens when 
they cry unto him, and who clothes the lilies 
of the valley. 

When little children are brought to him, 
he takes that opportunity to recommend 

• Matthew, xv. 11, 19, 20. 



318 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



the innocence, simplicity, and docility of 
children, saying, " Suffer little children to 
come unto me, and forbid them not, for 
of such is the kingdom of Heaven : * and, 
when his disciples contend together, saying, 
" Who is the greatest in the kingdom of 
Heaven ?" he takes a little child, and sets him 
in the midst of them, and says, st Except ye 
be converted, and become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Hea- 
ven." f 

When he walks among the vines, he dis- 
courses of the barren and the fruitful tree, 
to illustrate the opposite characters of an un- 
faithful and sincere disciple. ^ 

When the Pharisees, offended that he had 
healed a sick man on the Sabbath, put an in- 
sidious question, on purpose to ensnare him, 
saying, " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath 
day ?" — he rebukes their querulous hypo- 
crisy, by a question which admitted of no 
reply, and which, at the same time, expresses 
a rule, in which every man's understanding 
acquiesces. " Which of you shall have an 
ox or an ass fallen into a pit, and will not 
straightway pull him out on the Sabbath 

* Matth. xix. 14. + lb. xviii. t } % 3. % John, xy, 1. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 310 



day ?" On another occasion, he discusses 
the same subject with equal effect, but by a 
different illustration. When the hypocriti- 
cal Pharisees exclaim against his disciples, 
because on the Sabbath day, when hungry, 
they had plucked the ears of corn ; he first 
refers them to a far more striking departure 
from their sacred law, which inferred no 
blame, because it was justified by the ne- 
cessity of the case, as they themselves could 
not fail to admit — when David was compel- 
led by hunger to take the shew-bread from 
the altar, which it was not lawful for any 
but the priests to eat ; and then he lays down 
a general rule for the Sabbath, in which, sup- 
posing the sanctity of the institution to be ef- 
fectually guarded against unnecessary viola- 
tion, and asserting his own authority as the 
lawgiver, he affirms the obligation of the Sab- 
bath to have been at all times regulated and 
limited, by its salutary design with regard to 
the human race." He said unto them, tC The 
Sabbath was made for man, arid not man 
for the Sabbath ; therefore the Son of Man 
is Lord also of the Sabbath."* 

Many such examples might be given, in 



* Mark, ii. 24—28. 



320 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

which our Lord takes similar opportunities, 
from incidental circumstances and events, to 
illustrate and enforce most important articles 
of practical duty. 

I need scarcely add, that, besides the real 
incidents of which he availed himself, he 
found many occasions to illustrate and en- 
force his doctrines, by means of parabolical 
representations; by allegories which were ad- 
mirably suited to the circumstances in which 
they were employed ; and which, whether 
they were more or less understood at the 
time, are calculated to convey practical doc- 
trines in a most interesting form, to every 
age and generation of men. 

The parables of the sower, — of the un- 
fruitful tree, — of the man who said within 
himself, that he had goods laid up for many 
years, — of the rich man and Lazarus, — of 
the good Samaritan, — of the prodigal son, — 
of the labourers in the vineyard, — of the 
Pharisee and the publican, — of the wise and 
the foolish virgins, — of the talents given to 
different servants, — are lessons of pure and 
forcible morality, to which almost nothing 
can be added, on the subjects to which they 
relate ; and which, since the doctrines of 
Christ have been completely unfolded, are 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. S C 2I 



equally addressed to the consciences and to 
the understandings of every order of human 
beings. 

It is certainly possible to imagine that we 
discover, or to frame to oursel ves difficulties, 
with regard either to the evidence, or the sub- 
stance, of what we find detailed in the New 
Testament. But he who neither sees the 
truth nor the importance of the doctrines of 
Christ, and who cannot enter into the spirit 
of the pure and enlightened morality, which 
he inculcates and enforces, has a mind hard- 
ened against all sound and salutary instruc- 
tion, and is equally destitute of estimable 
feelings, and of just discernment. 

On this point, I have only to add, that we 
are bound to consider the life of Christ, as 
an essential and inseparable branch of the 
morality which he taught us. His personal 
conduct in situations like our own, and the 
example he intended for us, are, at the same 
time, a practical commentary on his doc- 
trines, and furnish the most irresistible ar- 
guments to enforce it. Wherever his con- 
duct can become a subject of imitation, it 
has, in every instance, the force of an au- 

X 



522 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP 



thoritative law, which we are bound to re- 
cognize, and are not at liberty to disregard. 

His temptation in the wilderness, for ex- 
ample, exhibits a most distinct and impres- 
sive pattern of the steadfast resolution with 
which all our temptations ought to be resist- 
ed, and of the genuine spirit with which we 
should be prepared to meet them, — of the 
devout confidence in God, which the most 
difficult circumstances should not be permit- 
ted to interrupt or to weaken, — of that reve- 
rence for the established laws of an all-wise 
and holy providence, which excludes every 
degree of presumptuous reliance on a protec- 
tion, which has not been promised us, — and 
of the calm and dignified superiority to every 
worldly acquisition, which rejects, with uni- 
form decision and scorn, whatever cannot 
be possessed, in a consistency with the clear 
and indispensible duties of a godly and con- 
scientious life. 

When our Lord admonishes us to love one 
another, it is his own example which he urges 
to persuade us. " Love one another, as I 
have loved you." C6 Do to one another as I 
have done to you," and M hereby shall all 
men know that ye are my disciples," 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 323 



He taught us how we ought to act to- 
wards those who do not love but hate us, 
and he gave us an example of the most im- 
pressive authority. rt When he was reviled, 
he reviled not again ; when he suffered, he 
threatened not ; but committed himself to 
him that judgeth righteously." 

His example, in all other situations like 
our own, is a practical demonstration, not 
only that his law is suited to our conditions, 
but that it is promulgated by one whose per- 
sonal conduct is a pledge to every age of the 
world, of the reverence due to its author, as 
the accredited and dignified messenger of the 
most high God. 

There is no other lawgiver, or moralist, 
on record, whose personal conduct will bear 
the scrutiny of his own precepts, or who can 
be held up to his followers as a perfect, or 
even as a blameless example, of the practical 
rules laid down by himself. * 

The life of Jesus of Nazareth alone, " mag- 
nified his law, and made it honourable and, 
in his law, as well as in every department of 
his peculiar doctrine, we have all, " with 

* Socrates himself will not stand this test, much less Maho- 
met, &c. 



324 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



open face, beheld His glory ; the glory as of 
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth, — for in him dwelt the fulness of 
the Godhead bodily." 

3. The peculiar circumstances and charac- 
ters of the apostles, who were first employed 
to promulgate the Gospel, afford a striking 
confirmation of the authority of their Master. 

Our Lord's selection of his immediate at- 
tendants and apostles, is not the least re- 
markable circumstance, either in the history 
of his life, or in the progress of his doctrine. 

They are all, without exception, taken from 
the lowest conditions of the people, and some 
of them even from situations which exposed 
them to the general contempt or hatred of 
their countrymen. They have no education 
whatever, to qualify them to spread the doc- 
trine of their Master ; and, what is not the 
least unpromising circumstance, they have 
all the prepossessions and prejudices of Jews, 
with regard both to the views and character 
of the expected Messiah, and the perpetuity 
of the Mosaic institutions; without any por- 
tion of the knowledge which could have been 
supposed to prepare them for receiving a 
more enlightened doctrine. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 325 



With all the advantages they possess from 
their attendance on their Master, both in the 
doctrines which he explains to them, and in 
the enlightened morality which he inculcates, 
their ignorance and prejudices are perpetually 
recurring, during the whole course of his 
life ; so as to leave us no room for suppos- 
ing, that they are persons who are either 
capable of receiving a new doctrine, or are 
qualified to promulgate it. 

During our Lord's personal ministry, they 
were, no doubt, sent forth to preach to the 
people of Judea and Galilee ; and were en- 
dowed with the power of working miracles, 
in confirmation of their mission. But the 
message then entrusted to them went no far- 
ther, than to announce the approach of the 
Messiah's kingdom, and to prepare the people 
to expect it; while it is certain that, at this 
time, they were themselves far from having 
any just conceptions of that kingdom, of which 
they were the ministers^ and were as much 
■unprepared, as the people to whom they 
were sent, for the events, by means of which 
it was at last to be established. 

They appear, indeed, to have been sincere- 
ly attached to their Master, and to have 



326 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

had most implicit confidence both in his 
doctrines, and in his miraculous powers. But 
they steadily resist or evade his most un- 
qualified declarations, with regard to the true 
nature of his kingdom ; obstinately regarding 
him as a Messiah who was to establish a tem- 
poral monarchy ; and on this subject they 
are never undeceived, during the whole 
course of his life. 

It is obvious, that whatever success at- 
tended our Lord's personal ministry, he 
could derive neither advice nor assistance 
from such coadjutors. The feeblest instru- 
ments might indeed have been made effici- 
ent, when they were employed by him ; and, 
for the limited service to which he confined 
them, there is no doubt, that when he sent 
the twelve Apostles among the people, they 
completely accomplished the immediate de- 
sign of their mission. But it is equally clear, 
that, while they follow the specific directions 
which are then given them, they not only 
do not themselves possess any distinct com- 
prehension of the subject or design of their 
mission, but they discover neither capacity 
nor talents, which, in the ordinary course of 
human affairs, were likely to produce any 

9 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 327 



considerable change on the opinions, or on the 
condition of mankind. 

Compare the service for which the Apostles 
were intended, and what they actually did 
after our Lord's ascension, with the character 
which they possessed, and with every part 
of their conduct during his personal ministry, 
and no two things can appear more dissimi- 
lar, or less likely to have occurred in the his- 
tory of the same men. 

But this is not all. — For it is evident, that, 
down to the period of our Lord's crucifixion, 
they were as destitute of the courage, as of 
the capacity, requisite for such an enterprise 
as they afterwards achieved. 

Though their attachment to their Master, 
which was certainly sincere, had beforehand 
persuaded them that they were prepared to 
adhere to him in the face of every danger, 
the event shewed, how little they possessed of 
the intrepidity, of which they had given 
themselves the credit. From the moment 
that they saw him led to his trial as a crimi- 
nal, they lost every semblance of resolution 
or firmness ; " They all forsook him and 
fled." * 

* Math. xxvi. 56. 



528 ON THE. INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP 

Not only so ; when, from their attachment 
to him, they mixed with the multitude who 
attended his trial, vainly supposing, that, lost 
in the crowd, they would not be distinguish- 
ed as his disciples ; the most courageous, and 
certainly not the least affectionate of them, 
had not resolution to withstand the chal- 
lenge of the simplest maid among the people. 
He was no sooner recognized, than he not 
only confidently denied all relation to his 
Master, but, to aggravate his pusillanimity, 
he denied with an oath, that he knew him. 
Three several times, he renewed his per- 
fidious asseverations, with every circum- 
stance which could heighten their atrocity. 

He did this in his Master's presence : — he 
did it, though his Master had solemnly fore- 
warned him, that this trial awaited him, and 
that this would be his conduct under it. He 
did it, after the most confident declarations 
given to his Master before, that " he was 
ready to go with him to prison, and to death j 
and that, though he should die with him, he 
would not deny him." * He persisted reso- 
lutely in his denial, till he heard the signal of 
which his Master had forewarned him, and 



* Luke, xxii. 23. Matt. xx?i, 35. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



329 



till his Master himself turned and looked on 
him, with the silent but irresistible rebuke of 
injured affection. Then, and not till then, 
his heart smote him : he remembered the 
warning and the signal, " and he went out, 
and wept bitterly." * 

This was the conduct of the most intrepid 
of the apostles ; of one, who had at all times 
been most forward in expressing his attach- 
ment to his Master ; who had even drawn 
his sword in his defence when he was first 
apprehended ; and who might have been set 
down beforehand as, of the twelve, the indi- 
vidual who was least likely to have been in- 
timidated, or to have deserted him. 

When all these circumstances are combin- 
ed, they demonstrate, that neither the condi- 
tion of the apostles, nor the information they 
possessed, nor the temper of mind which 
distinguished them, nor any degree of influ- 
ence which it is possible to ascribe to them, 
could have had any share in the efficacy of 
our Lord's personal ministry ; or held out any 
prospect or presumption that, after his death* 
they would have, either the qualifications or 



* Luke, xxii. 60—62, 



* 330 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

the courage, necessary to promulgate his doc- 
trine, in the face of the resistance which it 
manifestly had to encounter, both among 
Jews and Gentiles. 

Their personal characters involved so many 
obvious disqualifications, that no such idea 
could have, at this time, suggested itself, to 
those who were in any degree acquainted 
with them. The most inveterate opponents 
of Jesus of Nazareth, could not have con- 
ceived the possibility of any serious danger 
to arise to the established faith of any coun- 
try, by means of such instruments as his 
twelve apostles. 

The Jewish priests and the Pharisees did 
indeed imagine, or pretend, that, because 
during his life he had predicted his resur- 
rection from the dead, his disciples might 
have attempted to take his body from the 
grave, that they might impose on the world 
a report that he had actually risen. But 
of their influence or capacity, they discover 
no apprehension whatever, and do not seem 
to have ever entertained the idea, of involv- 
ing the disciples in the trial or condemnation 
of their Master ; a proceeding, which they 
certainly would have naturally adopted, if 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 331 

they had imagined it to be possible, that his 
doctrine could, by their means, have been 
made to survive himself. 

It is to be observed, besides, that if the 
apostles lost their courage, when they saw 
their Master arraigned and condemned as 
a criminal, they lost, at the same time, every 
expectation from his character, or from his 
dominion, as the Messiah. Every hope which 
they had indulged, as the ministers of his 
kingdom, was overwhelmed, when he was 
led to crucifixion, and died when he expir- 
ed. " We trusted (they said) that it had 
been he, who should have redeemed Israel 
and they said this, even after they had heard 
a report of his resurrection. They had then 
as little faith in his prediction, as in his 
power, and were equally dispirited and incre- 
dulous. 

I have given this view of the conduct of 
the apostles, down to the time of our Lord's 
resurrection, in order to point out its strik- 
ing contrast with the character of the same 
men afier that period. 

Their slow apprehensions, their timid af- 



* Luke, xxiy. 21. 



332 



ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



fection, their utter inefficiency during his 
life, and the inextinguishable zeal and intre- 
pidity, which characterized their apostolical 
labours afterwards, are as unlike to each o- 
ther, as any contrary qualities which have 
ever been found united, in the conduct of the 
same individuals. 

Before their Master's ascension, he had di- 
rected them to remain quietly at Jerusalem, 
till they should be 6C endowed with power 
from on high ;" and on the day of Pentecost 
the signal was given for the commencement 
of their public labours. On that memorable 
day, the Holy Ghost was shed on them by 
miraculous signs, according to their Master's 
promise ; and from that moment, they exhi- 
bit a character so entirely new, that they 
inust have filled all Jerusalem with astonish- 

/The once timid disciples of Jesus of Naza- 
reth then come forward, in open defiance of 
every obstacle or danger, publicly attesting as 
a fact, of which they were themselves the 
witnesses, the resurrection of their crucified 
Master from the dead, on the third day after 
his crucifixion. They do this, in the midst 
of the city, and of the temple \ in the face of 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



353 



those who condemned, and of those who cru- 
cified him ; as well as in the presence of a 
multitude of witnesses, who had seen him af- 
ter his resurrection. They affirm, that they 
Had personally seen him alive, and had fre- 
quently conversed with him ; that he had 
eaten in their presence, as they sat at meat ; 
that he had given them special instructions 
and authority, to promulgate the gospel in 
his name, beginning at Jerusalem ; and that 
they afterwards distinctly saw him carried 
up into heaven, where " a cloud received him 
out of their sight." 

The same men whose terror had compelled 
them to desert their Master on his trial, and 
who had then shrunk back from the least 
appearance of danger to themselves ; the men 
whose understandings had never, during their 
Master's life, comprehended the idea of a spi- 
ritual Messiah, or of a spiritual kingdom ; the 
men who, so recently could not imagine, 
" what the rising from the dead should 
mean ;" * and who, dreaming still of a tem- 
poral monarchy, even after his meaning had 
been explained by the event, could say to 



* Mark, ix. 10. 



334 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

himself, " Lord, wilt thou at this time re- 
store again the kingdom to Israel ?" f — these 
same men come forward, after the day of 
Pentecost, without the least apprehension for 
themselves, in the midst of the very persons 
whom they publicly accuse as the murderers 
of their Master, and who have all the power 
of the city in their hands, solemnly attesting 
his resurrection from the dead, as a fact of 
undeniable certainty, — -as a fact which they 
affirm to have completely demonstrated Je- 
sus of Nazareth, whom the infatuated Jews 
had publicly renounced and crucified, to 
have been truly the expected Messiah, of 
whom all their prophets had spoken. 

They are not to be diverted from their 
purpose, by the threatenings of the priests 
and rulers at Jerusalem ; and though they 
are successively apprehended, beaten, and 
imprisoned ; instead of being shaken and 
discouraged, they give thanks to God that 
they are counted worthy to suffer shame for 
the name of Jesus ; and, in defiance of the 
threatenings of the priests and of the coun- 
cil, from whom they had reason to expect 



* Acts, i. 6. Mark, xvi. 14. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 335 



every indignity and violence, they cease not 
to preach the doctrines of Christ, in open 
day, and everywhere publish his resurrec- 
tion from the dead. Not only so ; they do 
not lose one particle of their courage, after 
they have seen one of their number put to 
death to gratify the Jews ; another consigned 
to fetters, till a time could be found to give 
him the same treatment ; and a third disci- 
ple, though he was not an apostle, condemned 
by the council, and stoned to death by the 
enraged multitude. The last of these was 
indeed the first martyr to the gospel ; and 
he gave an example of the glorious spirit of 
primitive Christianity, and of its visible tri- 
umph over both malice and death, never to 
be surpassed in any age of the world. Full 
of the Holy Ghost, and of faith, he was able 
to cry out in the midst of his murderers, " I 
see the Heavens opened, and Jesus standing 
at the right hand of God. — Lord Jesus, re- 
ceive my spirit," and, " lay not this sin to 
their charge." * 

Nothing can be more striking than the in- 
trepidity of these men, contrasted with the 

* Acts, -vii. 56—60. 



336 



ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



character of the apostles during their Mas- 
ter's life. 

It is not less astonishing, that they whose 
understandings resisted the plainest truths 
before, come forward now, completely mas- 
ters of every subject of their ministry — pub- 
lishing the facts in their Master's history, 
which they formerly resisted with the most 
stedfast incredulity, not only without reluc- 
tance, but with perpetual delight and exulta-r 
tion — avowing now their relation to a cru- 
cified Messiah, as the glory of his disciples — 
disdaining all the advantages and distinc- 
tions of the present world,-— -and preaching 
with the zeal of irresistible conviction, the 
spiritual doctrines of a spiritual Messiah — 
salvation from sin and death through his 
obedience unto death, the just for the unjust — 
redemption through his blood, the forgive- 
ness of sins, and eternal life, the gift of God 
by Jesus Christ, — as the first and greatest of 
all concerns to the human race. 

Though in preaching these doctrines, they 
see themselves surrounded by all the accu- 
mulated horrors of persecution and death, 
the spirit of their Master not only sustains 
their courage, but raises them above all the 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 337 

thrones and dominions of the world. " We 
preach not ourselves, they say, but Christ 
Jesus the Lord, — to the Jews indeed, a 
stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolish- 
ness, but to them that are saved, both Jews 
and Greeks, Christ the wisdom of God, and 
the power of God * and " by him the 
world is crucified to us, and we unto the 
world." f 

They all preach the same doctrines with 
the same zeal ; with the same clear and en- 
lightened apprehensions; without any defi- 
ciency whatever in the knowledge either of 
their substance, of their evidence* or of their 
application ; and without the lease remain- 
ing tincture of their expectations from a tem- 
poral monarchy, — the delusion which they 
had so fondly cherished during their Mas- 
ter's life, and which was still the reigning 
delusion of their country. 

Is it possible to examine these circum- 
stances without believing, that the men 
whose characters were so completely chang- 
ed, and whose subsequent conduct was so 
uniformly consistent with the views which 
they avowed, and with the facts which they 

* 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. + Galat. ?i. 14. 

y 



338 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

published, acted under an authority which 
they conceived to be irresistible, — that both 
the knowledge and the intrepidity which 
they had so recently acquired, are pledges to 
every age of the world, of the earnestness 
and sincerity of their apostolical labours, — 
and, that the wisdom and energy which, 
from the day of Pentecost, uniformly distin- 
guished them, could not be the result either 
of human influence or of wordly ambition, 
but were cruly u given them from above." 

I am not, at present, bringing into view 
the apostolical miracles ; the miraculous de- 
scent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pente^ 
cost ; or the miraculous gifts with which 
the apostles were endowed, which enabled 
them to heal the sick, to raise the dead, 
to speak with tongues, or prophesy, in 
confirmation of their mission. I am con- 
fining myself to the astonishing change pro- 
duced on the personal characters of the 
apostles, and on their public ministry, from 
the time after Christ's ascension to Heaven, 
when the Holy Ghost was given them ; and 
am adverting to what was supernatural in 
this part of their history, only in as far as it 
is inseparable from the change visible on 
themselves, and from the peculiar character 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 339 



which, from this time, they uniformly sup- 
ported. 

No dispassionate man, attending to the 
facts related in the book of the Acts of 
the Apostles ; — comparing these with the pre- 
vious conduct of the apostles, as stated by 
the evangelists, — and supposing the authenti- 
city of the narratives, which has before been 
illustrated,— can entertain a serious doubt > 
either that those men were sincere in certify- 
ing the facts which they attested on their 
personal knowledge ; or that, in detailing 
the events on which their doctrines turned, 
they spake like men thoroughly informed 
of what they asserted, and who believed 
themselves fully assured of the authority 
which they claimed. 

The effects of their labours corresponded 
with the facts which have been detailed. 

Instead of flying from Jerusalem, where 
their Master had been crucified, and where 
they had every persecution to expect, they 
proceeded immediately to found the Christ- 
ian church there. There the greatest num- 
ber of them continued to fulfil their ministry 
for several years, notwithstanding the inevi- 
table dispersion of a great proportion of the 



340 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

persecuted believers. They persisted reso- 
lutely in testifying publicly the resurrection 
and ascension of our Lord, in the place 
where the events had happened, where their 
chief persecutors resided, and where they 
might have been most easily contradicted, if 
the facts which they asserted could have 
been either questioned or disproved. 

An immense number of converts imme- 
diately embraced Christianity, notwithstand- 
ing the recent crucifixion of its founder. 
Three thousand men were converted toge- 
ther, on the day of Pentecost ; and every 
succeeding day added to the multitude of 
believers, who continued to adhere stedfastly 
to the church of Christ to the end of their 
lives, in the face of every persecution, and 
of martyrdom itself. 

In the course of a few years, Christianity 
spread from Judea through all the neighbour- 
ing countries ; and it is an indisputable fact, 
that, independent of the persecutions raised 
against the Christians, which forwarded ra- 
ther than retarded the progress of the gospel, 
this was effected, in opposition both to the in- 
veterate bigotry of the Jews, and the unprin- 
cipled superstitions of the Roman empire ; by 
4 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 341 



no other visible instruments than the twelve 
individuals whom our Lord had selected as 
apostles ; all of whom, with the exception of 
one man, who has not yet been mentioned, 
had derived from their Master every portion 
of the knowledge they possessed, and had 
no information whatever, from the education 
or learning of their country. 

But it must not be forgotten in this repre- 
sentation, that the apostle Paul, though none 
of the twelve original apostles, was ultimate- 
ly the most distinguished of them all. 

He was born in a rank of life above the 
condition of the other apostles. He was 
educated at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the 
most learned and enlightened men of Judea. 
He was thoroughly trained in the usages, 
and was eminently skilled in the literature 
and religion of the Jews. He had, besides, 
more than a common share of their national 
bigotry ; and his keen abhorrence of Christ- 
ianity, and of those who embraced it, was 
coeval with its first promulgation, and with 
the first persecution which was raised against 
it. 

He was more than a spectator in the mar- 
tyrdom of Stephen, and, from the moment of 



342 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

that tragical event, his part was decidedly 
taken, as an active and insatiable persecutor 
of the Christians. Without any distinction 
of age or sex, supported by the ruling 
powers, he seized the Christians in every 
synagogue, and dragging them to prison, 
compelled them to blaspheme. Not satis- 
fied with these atrocities at home, he solicit- 
ed at last, and obtained a commission from 
the chief priests, to follow the persecuted 
Christians to cities beyond the limits of Ju- 
dea, to which they had fled for safety. 

With all these circumstances against the 
probability of such an event, this man be- 
comes a believer and an apostle of Christ- 
ianity. While he is carrying his persecut- 
ing edict to Damascus, he is arrested in his 
career by a power which completely sub- 
dues him — by the voice of the Lord Jesus 
himself, addressing him directly from Hea- 
ven, with circumstances of the most awful 
and irresistible impression. Receiving af- 
terwards the most unquestionable confirma- 
tion of this revelation, and of the authority 
of the gospel which he had hitherto perse- 
cuted with so much inveteracy— he not only 
embraced Christianity from the fullest and 



THE rfEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 343 

most deliberate conviction, but from that 
moment, abandoning every other concern, 
he devoted his whole mind to its promulga- 
tion among Jews and Gentiles; and, to the end 
of his life, sustained the office of an apostle 
of the gospel, with all the zeal and firmness 
suited to his sanguine character. He nei- 
ther consulted with his friends, nor confer- 
red with those who were apostles before him. 
Armed with the authority which he had re- 
ceived directly from his Master, from the 
first moment of his conversion he made 
every thing give way to the pre-eminent 
functions of an apostle. He did not return 
to Jerusalem for three years together, but 
went directly from Damascus to Arabia, to 
preach Christianity. He preached where no 
apostle had preached before ; among the 
Gentiles more than among the Jews ; and 
devoted his ministry, to the end of his life, 
to the remote provinces of the empire, rather 
than to the vicinity of Judea, where the 
greatest number of the apostles remained. 
He laboured more, and certainly spread the 
gospel far more extensively, than any indi- 
vidual employed in the same service. No 
hardship or privation could intimidate him. 



S44 GN THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



He knew the strength of the cause in which 
he was engaged, and the irresistible power 
which sustained it. No opposition could 
therefore shake his resolution, or diminish 
the confidence with which he relied on the 
result of his apostleship. " None of these 
things move me," he said, " neither count I 
my life dear unto myself, so that I may fi- 
nish my course with joy, and the ministry 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to 
testify the gospel of the grace of God." 
" Yea doubtless, and I count all things but 
loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whom I have 
suffered the loss of all things, and do count 
them but dung that I may win Christ." * 

The history of this apostle's life, is, in 
truth, the history of the primitive church of 
Christ, for the first thirty years after its 
commencement ; from the time when it was 
extended beyond the confines of Judea, till 
it had reached the extremities of the Roman 
empire. We have his history most minute- 
ly related in the book of the Acts of the 
Apostles > and there are a variety of circum- 

* Acts, xx. 24. Philip, iii. 8. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 345 

stances besides, which are incidentally given 
us in his apostolical epistles, which serve to 
illustrate, not only the peculiar spirit and 
character by which he was uniformly dis- 
tinguished among Jews and Gentiles, but 
the condition arid progress of the Christian 
churches during his life. 

The firmness with which he resisted every 
attempt by judaizing teachers, and even by 
judaizing apostles, to corrupt the simplicity 
of the gospel ; the stedfast resolution with 
which, in opposition to both, he asserted 
H the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us 
free the honest and manly sincerity with 
which he openly condemned what was 
blameable in the converts to the Christian 
faith, and even in apostles themselves ; and 
above all, his frequent and undisguised re- 
ferences to the delusions under which he 
had originally lived, and to the worst parts 
of his own conduct before his conversion, — 
are striking confirmations of the veracity of 
the narratives, which contain the history of 
his apostleship ; and not less convincing de- 
monstrations of the sincerity and strength 
of mind, with which he made every circum- 



546 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

stance, within his observation or experience, 
subservient to the great object of his life. 

When the Jewish believers, from their 
original prejudices and habits, attempted to 
subject the Gentile converts to the austeri- 
ties of the Mosaical law ; the apostle Paul, 
though a Jew, did not allow himself, for an 
instant, to forget that he was a Christian 
apostle ; and he set himself resolutely and 
uniformly against every attempt to make 
this dangerous encroachment on the liberty 
of the believers. '? To them," he says, to 
the Galatian converts, that is, to the judaiz- 
ing teachers, 6C we gave place by subjection, 
no not for an hour, that the truth of the gos- 
pel might continue with you — and even 
when the apostle Peter came to Antioch, 
and, along with other Jews, w T as tempted to 
" dissemble, fearing them of the circumci- 
sion, I withstood him," he says, " to the 
face, before them all, because he was to be 
blamed ;" — " The law was our schoolmaster 
to bring us to Christ — but after faith is 
come, ye are no more, under a schoolmaster 
— for ye are all the children of God by 
faith in Christ Jesus;" — " Stand fast, therefore, 
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 34? 



you free, and be not entangled again in the 
yoke of bondage." * 

The circumstances which are thus detail- 
ed, accord with every fact in the Apostle's 
history, and equally demonstrate the purity 
and the strength of his character. 

The unaffected and incorruptible integri- 
ty with which he refers to his conduct in 
early life, as affording him a perpetual rea- 
son for disclaiming all personal credit for 
his apostolical labours, proves the veracity 
of his character by an incontrovertible test ; 
and, as often as it occurs in his epistles, 
furnishes a distinct pledge to every age of 
believers, for the truth and fairness of the 
New Testament history. " I am the least 
of the apostles," he says, " who am not meet 
to be called an apostle, because I persecuted 
the church of God ;" f * Ye have heard of 
my conversation in time past in the Jews' 
religion, how that, beyond measure, I perse- 
cuted the church of God, and wasted it ;" — 
" I was unknown by face to the churches 
of Judea which were in Christ; but they 
had heard only, that he which persecuted 

* Galat. iu5 3 11, 12. Ch. Hi. 24, 25, 26. Ch. v. 1. 
f 1. Cor. xv. 9. 



348 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

the Christians in time past, now preacheth 
the faith which once he destroyed * — " I 
was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, 
and injurious ; but I obtained mercy, be- 
cause I did it ignorantly in unbelief — And, 
" for this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all 
long-suffering, for a pattern to them who 
should thereafter believe on him to life ever- 
lasting." f 

This is not the language of a deceiver of 
the people. It expresses the undissembled 
humility of a great mind, cherished by re- 
collections never to be forgotten, and brought 
forward without reserve or hesitation, in 
conjunction with earnest and affectionate ad- 
monitions, to add to the weight of apostoli- 
cal fidelity. 

After having successfully preached Christ- 
ianity, and established Christian churches in 
almost every quarter of the Roman empire, 
this great apostle died at last a martyr to the 
gospel, to which he had devoted his life. 

With the exception of James, the brother 
of John, the New Testament does not con- 



* Galat. i. 13, 22, 23. 



+ I. Tim. i. 13, 16. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 349 



tain an account of the martyrdom of any 
one of the apostles. But the language of 
all antiquity leads us to suppose, that this 
was the general termination of their labours ; 
and renders it perhaps doubtful, whether 
even the apostle John was excepted, though 
he survived the rest. * 

The books of the New Testament contain 
no continued or connected series of regular 
history. They are the separate and distinct 
writings of different men, who did not com- 
municate with each other, or compare their 
several accounts of the same transactions. 
This fact being kept in view, the uniform 
coincidence of the different narratives, in re- 
lating or alluding to the same events, while 
the distinct characters of the several writers 
is accurately preserved — the fairness and 
simplicity with which the defects and errors, 
as well as the labours and success of the 
apostles, are related — and the striking light 
reflected on the narratives of the gospels and 
of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, by 
facts not to be found in these writings, which 
are incidentally mentioned in the apostolical 

* Tertullian is, however, the only ancient author who af- 
firms his martyrdom. 



350 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

epistles, or by the same facts mentioned by 
the evangelists, differently related in the 
epistles, — are all to be considered as internal 
proofs, not only of the consistency, but of 
the indisputable truth and veracity of the 
New Testament narratives. 

On the last of these points, there are two 
examples which, in justice to the subject, 
deserve to be specified. 

The four evangelists relate, with more or 
less minuteness, different occasions on which 
our Lord appeared to his disciples, and con- 
versed with them, after his resurrection. 
The same appearances are not mentioned by 
every one of them ; and even when they are 
relating the same fact, there are circum- 
stances peculiar to the narrative of each 
evangelist. 

The apostle Paul also gives the Corinthians 
an account of our Lord's different appearances 
to his disciples after he was risen ; and his 
narrative is in a form peculiar to himself. 
When he mentions the same facts recorded 
by the evangelists, he confirms, without in- 
tending it, the minutest circumstances which 
they relate. If they tell us that Jesus, at 
one time, appears to his disciples when the 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 551 

apostle Thomas is absent, and when they 
mention to one another that he had before 
appeared unto Simon ; and afterwards re- 
late, that, on another occasion, he stands in 
the midst of them when Thomas is present 
— the apostle Paul mentions and confirms 
these circumstances in a different order, and 
in the most undesigned and incidental form. 
" He was seen," he says, u of Cephas, then 
of the twelve" — After that time, he was seen 
" of all the apostles." In mentioning first 
the twelve^ he intended to specify, not the 
number present, but the original number of 
the apostles. They were at this time only 
eleven, and this was clearly the occasion on 
which Thomas was absent. For he men- 
tions immediately, in quite different terms, 
our Lord's appearance to them, when they 
were unquestionably all together. " He 
was then," he says, " seen of all the 
apostles." 

The evangelists relate, that our Lord inti- 
mated to his disciples, immediately after his 
resurrection, that he was to go before them 
into Galilee, to a mountain where he ap- 
pointed them to meet him ; but they have 
not mentioned any of the circumstances at- 

s 



352 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

tending his interview with them there. The 
original intimation of his intention to meet 
them in Galilee, was not given exclusively 
to the apostles, but was delivered to the 
women who went to the sepulchre, with di- 
rections to tell it to those whom Jesus called 
generally " his brethren" * — that is, to his 
other disciples as well as the apostles. 

We may well suppose, that such an inti- 
mation, delivered in such circumstances, and 
in these terms, would not be disregarded by 
any considerable proportion of those to 
whom there was time to announce it, and 
who had believed in him during his life ; 
and that, on receiving it, they would resort 
in crowds to the mountain of Galilee. 

The evangelists mention nothing more 
than the intimation, and give us none of the 
circumstances which occurred, when his dis- 
ciples actually met him in consequence of it. 

The apostle Paul seems tp have filled up 
this chasm in their narrative, by relating, 
that after he cc was seen of Cephas, and then 
of the twelve," (at the time when Thomas 
was absent) " that after that, he was seen of 



* Matthew, xxviii. 10. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 353 



above five hundred brethren at once, of 
whom the greater part remained (alive) to 
the time when he was writing, though some 
had fallen asleep." 

The fact thus related, is by itself one of 
the most striking confirmations of the cer- 
tainty of our Lord's resurrection, which the 
New Testament contains. For no man of a 
sound understanding would have dared to 
appeal to the greater part of five hundred 
men, then alive, for a fact, within their per- 
sonal knowledge, any one of whom might 
have furnished the means of refuting his nar- 
rative, if a contradiction had been possible. 

But the fact related is also important, from 
its obvious coincidence with the circum- 
stances mentioned by the evangelists. Our 
Lord's appearance in Galilee, if it be to this 
event which the apostle Paul refers, must have 
so quickly followed the intimation given of 
it, as to have occurred, according to his re- 
presentation, though by no means on the 
same day with his resurrection, yet between 
his first appearance to the apostles, when 
Thomas was absent, and the time when " he 
was seen by all the apostles together," 

There were no doubt many of his other 
z 



534 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

appearances during the forty days he remain- 
ed on earth, after his resurrection, which 
the evangelists have not mentioned, other- 
wise* than by marking out the length of time, 
during which he continued to be seen by his 
disciples. The apostle Paul has also recorded 
one of these appearances, which is neither 
related nor alluded to by any one of the 
evangelists ; when he says, that after he was 
met by the five hundred brethren at once, 
" he was seen of James," * before the time, 
when, as he subjoins, " he was seen of all 
the apostles." And it ought to be added, 
that, independent of his supernatural appear- 
ance to the apostle Paul himself, referred to 
in the same narrative, there are two appear- 
ances which he has not specified, one of 
which most probably, and the other certain- 
ly occurred subsequent to all those which 
he has mentioned, and to which I at present 
refer, merely to observe, that they are both 
obviously distinct from every one of those to 
which he has alluded, viz. — His appearance to 
five of his disciples at the sea of Tiberias ; f 
and last of all, to a much greater number, 

* 1 Cor. xv. 5—9. See Note LL.j 
f John, xxi. 1, % 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 355 

wheii * he led them out as far as Bethany, 
and was parted from them;" being visibly 
carried up from thence into Heaven. * 

None of these circumstances are unim- 
portant, as coincident confirmations of the 
evangelical history, or as affording internal 
evidence of the authenticity of the New Tes- 
tament books : And, before leaving this part 
of the subject, a single example besides 
may be added. 

The apostle Peter, in his second epistle, wi th- 
out mentioning our Lord's transfiguration, 
distinctly confirms the relation given of that 
remarkable event by the evangelists, by an 
allusion to it, so exclusive, and so precisely 
marked, that no doubt can exist that he in- 
tended to refer to it, as an important fact in 
his master's life, of which he was a living wit- 
ness. " He received from God the father, 
he says, honour and glory, when there came 
such a voice to him from the excellent glory, 
This is my beloved son in whom I am well 
pleased ; and this voice, which came from 
Heaven, we heard, when we were with him 
in the holy Mount." f He refers to the trans- 



* Luke, xxiv, 50, 51.] 



f 2 Peter, i. 17, 18- 



356 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

figuration, and to these circumstances belong- 
ing to it, as facts well known to those to 
whom he wrote, and confirms the narratives 
of the evangelists, without either mention- 
ing or alluding to them. 

To all these internal proofs of the authen- 
ticity of the New Testament narratives, a great 
number of other examples might be added. 
The writers of the gospels, and the authors 
of the apostolical epistles, had clearly the 
same facts in their possession, and the same 
authority in relating them. 

It ought to be also stated, that the apostles 
preserve the same individual characters in 
their writings, which is given them in the 
history of their apostolical labours. They 
have the same peculiarities in their personal 
qualities, as well as the same disinterested 
and ardent zeal for the service of the gospel* 
and the edification of the Christian churches. 
The apostles Paul, Peter, and John, write as 
they preached, the same precise doctrines, 
and detail them with the same sincerity. But 
the peculiar distinctions of their several cha- 
racters are as clearly impressed on their dif- 
ferent writings, as if their subjects had been 
completely different, or as if they had writ- 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 35/ 

ten in different ages. The sameness and pe- 
culiarities of character which each of them 
preserves, exhibited in the different situations 
in which their history has placed them, from 
the commencement of their apostleship to 
the close of the New Testament record, is a 
perpetual pledge for the authenticity of what- 
ever is related concerning them, as well as 
of the books which continue to bear their 
names in the Christian church. * 

Before I leave this part of the argument, it 
is necessary to subjoin, that the doctrines 
transmitted to us by the apostles are precise- 
ly the same ; and are invariably the doctrines 
which were delivered by their Master, during 
his personal ministry — concerning the guilt 
and ruin in which sin had involved the hu- 
man race — concerning the incarnation and 
the mission of the only begotten Son of 
God, who was in the bosom of the father, 
by whom also he made the worlds, and in 
whom dwelt the fulness of the godhead bo- 
dily, for the salvation of them who be- 

* See Paley's Horae Paulinae ; where a similar argument is 
stated from the epistles of St Paul, compared with the history 
in " the Acts of the Apostles though the coincidences 
quoted are different from any that are here mentioned. 



358 



ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 



lieve on him — concerning the great atone- 
ment for the sins of many, which he offered 
without spot unto God, by his obedience 
unto death — concerning the restoration of 
sinners through faith in his blood — con- 
cerning the washing of regeneration, and the 
renewing of the Holy Ghost—concerning 
the indispensible obligation of moral duties, 
and the grace which is given to them who 
ask it — and finally, concerning the interces- 
sion of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, 
and the judgment of the great day. 

The apostles invariably deliver these doc- 
trines, both as to their substance and their 
effects, precisely as they were before laid 
down by their master. They are more ex- 
panded, and are illustrated more in detail by 
the apostles ; and for this fact there are two 
obvious reasons, which every man of good 
understanding perceives. The events on 
which they depended were not completed, 
till after our Lord's resurrection and his as- 
cension to heaven ; and till that time, his 
disciples themselves were not prepared fully 
to comprehend, or appreciate, the true design 
of his mission. The controversies which 
arose in the early periods of the primitive 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 



359 



churches required, besides, a more detailed 
illustration of the doctrines of Christ, than 
was either necessary or expedient, during 
the course of his personal ministry. 

But the doctrine of the apostles is at no 
time at variance with itself, or with that 
which was delivered by their Master. It is 
invariably the same doctrine, <c which at the 
first began to be spoken by the Lord, which 
has been confirmed to us by them who heard 
him;' 

I have yet said nothing of the prophetical 
parts of the New Testament ; or of the in- 
ternal evidence which they possess of their 
divine authority. * 

On this subject I think it necessary to say 
nothing more, than that a great part of the 
New Testament prophecies are yet unac- 
complished ; and, till fulfilled, are not to 
be fully 'understood : But that they, in many 
instances, relate to the same events which 
the ancient prophets predicted, and in not a 
few examples have been already literally ac- 
complished ; that the figures and emblema- 
tical representations of the New Testament 
prophecies have an exact resemblance and 
analogy to those which are employed by the 



560 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

prophets under the ancient dispensation; and 
that this resemblance, connected with the 
fulfilment of predictions, in which it is 
clearly discerned, and with the magnificent 
representations of the progress of the Mes- 
siah's kingdom, so suitable to every idea 
given us of prophetical inspiration, and so 
worthy of its author, should be quite suffi- 
cient to serve as internal proof, that the pre- 
dictions of the New came from the same 
source as the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment, and have the same authority as the 
revelation of God. 

Without mentioning other examples, our 
Lord's predictions relating to the destruction 
of Jerusalem, delivered forty years before 
the event, and at a time when there were no 
circumstances in the state of the country by 
which it could have been anticipated, must 
always be regarded as internal evidence, of 
the most irresistible force, for the authority 
of the New Testament scriptures. 

No infidelity can disguise the exact corres- 
pondence between those predictions and their 
accomplishment, or the complete illustra- 
tion given of them by the narrative of Jo- 
sephus, the Jewish historian ; who, without 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 361 

any intended reference to what our Lord 
foretold, in relating the events as they occur- 
red, has given, for the benefit of all poste- 
rity, by circumstances the most minute and 
astonishing, the undeniable attestations of 
historical record, to the truth of prophetical 
revelations. 

To all these considerations relating to the 
apostolical writings, it should be added, that 
the apostles, in following out the views of 
their Master, appear to have been not only 
thoroughly informed of what they asserted, 
but to have been equally above the suspi- 
cion of wordly views, and of blind enthu- 
siasm. 

Worldly views it was impossible to impute 
to them — for they hazarded, and ultimately 
sacrificed^ every thing in this world, for the 
testimony of the gospel. And every part of 
their conduct repels the supposition, that 
enthusiasm was the source of it, as complete- 
ly incredible. No individuals could have 
been more reluctant or slower to believe the 
facts, for which at last they hazarded their 
all ; and the terms in which they announce 
and promulgate them, are clearly the lan- 
guage of personal knowledge and convic- 



562 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF 

tion, and far removed from every semblance 

either of ignorance or delusion. 

There is one remarkable example of the 

spirit which animated the apostles in the 

most difficult and hazardous circumstan- 
ces, which, as it explains the grand and 
leading principle which governed and sup- 
ported them to the end of their apostleship, 
ought not to be passed over in silence. 
When they were strictly prohibited by the 
rulers of Judea from preaching in the name 
of Jesus, and were publicly threatened with 
every severity, if they should disobey, Pe- 
ter and John, with the confidence and mag- 
nanimity, which nothing but truth and con- 
viction could inspire, disdaining every per- 
sonal hazard, replied before them all," Whe- 
ther it be right in the sight of God, to heark- 
en unto you more than unto God, judge ye ; 
for we cannot but speak the things which we 
have seen and heard." # 

When all the circumstances of this detail 
are fairly examined and combined, — the life 
and death of Christ, to which there is no- 
thing analogous in the annals of the world, — 
the peculiar nature of the doctrines, and of 



* Acts, iv. 19, 20, 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 363 

the morality which he taught — the singular 
history and characters of the apostles who 
first promulgated the gospel ; the internal 
evidence of the books which contain narra- 
tives so astonishing, cannot be easily evaded. 

If it be a fact, which no sophistry can con- 
trovert, that, from the period supposed, and 
from the circumstances related, Christianity 
derives its origin ; that it has ever since ex- 
isted in the world, on the supposition, that this 
account of its commencement is faithfully re- 
corded ; it is not easy (setting aside the in- 
tervention of miracles) to conceive any other 
species of facts, which could have more com- 
pletely established the authority of the New 
Testament narrative : Especially, when it is 
added, that the usages which are distinctly 
related by the evangelists and apostles, are 
at this day the standing institutions of the 
Christian church, and that all antiquity traces 
them back to the authority given them by 
Christ, and his immediate disciples. 

They who can allow themselves to ima- 
gine, that all the circumstances in this de- 
tail, which lead to one general conclusion, 
could possibly be united in the New Testa- 
ment, without conferring on it an authority 



3(H ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP 

which they are bound to acknowledge, and 
cannot conscientiously resist, would not be 
easily persuaded, by any other species of evi- 
dence which can be applied to the subject. 

Let it just be remarked besides, that it 
would have been easy to have rendered this 
argument more complete, by comparing the 
narratives in the New Testament with the 
contemporary history of the world ; with the 
narratives given by profane historians, (in- 
cluding the history of Josephus the Jew) of the 
same facts, the same individuals, and espe- 
cially of the same manners, customs, and 
opinions, which we find recorded by the 
apostles and evangelists. 

But it is obvious, that this view of the sub- 
ject is too important to be treated superficial- 
ly, and too extensive to have justice done to 
it, within the limits of this discourse. Its 
omission is so much the less to be regretted, 
that it has been most completely stated and 
illustrated, by one of the most profound and 
accurate inquirers of modern times, to whose 
judgment and learning on the subject, there 
is almost nothing to be added. * 

* See Dr Lardner's Credibility, Vol. I. See also his Jew- 
ish and Heathen Testimonies. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 365 



Admitting the facts which have been men- 
tioned, to be correctly stated, — That the ori- 
gin and progress of Christianity are exactly re- 
lated by the evangelists, — that the New Tes- 
tament contained at first what it still con- 
tains, as the general history and substance of 
Christianity — that the events related, and the 
doctrines and morality inculcated, possess 
the intrinsic characters ascribed to them — 
that they are neither the contrivance of men, 
nor like to any thing which men have inven- 
ted — but that they are worthy in all respects 
of the design for which they were promulgat- 
ed, and of the service in which they are em- 
ployed ; to promote the glory of God, and the 
happiness and salvation of men — Admitting 
this representation to be just, it follows of con- 
sequence, that the scriptures of the New Tes- 
tament come to us from him, on whose au- 
thority they profess to have been published, 
and are the inspired oracles of the Son of God. 
And that the writers of the New Testament, 
like the prophets under the ancient dispensa- 
tion, have not given us their own inventions 
or speculations, or detailed on their own au- 
thority the history of the gospel ; but that, as 
holy men of God, they have spoken and 



366 ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE, &C. 

written what we read in the New Testament, 
" as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 

We must therefore believe, that they have 
transmitted to us every fact, doctrine, and pre- 
cept, essential either to our faith or duty, by 
the inspiration of God ; and therefore, that 
what they have written, we are indispensably 
bound to receive, not only as the substance 
and the standards of Christian doctrine, but 
as authoritative principles and laws, by which 
our conduct will be judged at the tribunal of 
God. 

If the books of the New Testament con- 
tain indeed " the word of God which endu- 
reth for ever," we are certain that the in- 
spired writers were not only guarded from 
error, by the eternal Spirit who instructed 
them, but that they were sufficiently inform- 
ed on every subject, which they have pro- 
fessed to transmit to the ages after them. 

ft If any man hear my words," said our 
Lord, " and believe not, I judge him not ; for 
I am not come to judge the world, but to 
save the world. He that rejecteth me, and 
receiveth not my words, hath one that judg- 
eth him. The word that I have spoken, the 
same shall judge him in the last day."* 



* John, xii. 47, 48. 



DISCOURSE VII. 



ON MIRACLES. 



Acts, ii. 22. 

M Jesus of Nazareth^ a man approved of God 
among you, by miracles, and signs, and won- 
ders, which God did by him in the midst of 
you, as ye yourselves also know" 

In representing the evidence given us for the 
authority of the New Testament scriptures, 
whatever was supernatural in the original 
progress of Christianity has been alluded to, 
only in as far as it is inseparable from its 
general history. 

1 have hitherto kept out of my view the 
miracles by which the gospel was at first 
confirmed. We have certainly both a precise 
and a conclusive argument for the authority of 
Christianity, in the facts which demonstrate 
the accomplishment of the ancient predic- 



368 



ON MIRACLES. 



tions relating to the Messiah — in the perso- 
nal history of Christ — in the peculiar cha- 
racter of the doctrines and of the morality- 
received from him — and in the singular his- 
tory of the apostles, by whom the gospel 
was at first promulgated. 

But it is equally clear, that if we are to re- 
ly on the authority of the New Testament, 
either for the doctrines or for the history of 
Christianity, we must receive them on the 
supposition, that they are inseparably in- 
volved with " the miracles, wonders, and 
signs," by which God originally confirmed 
the mission of Christ as the Messiah ; and 
which ultimately attested the authority of 
the apostles, who promulgated the gospel in 
his name. 

It is impossible to receive the New Testa- 
ment as containing a revelation from God, 
on any other hypothesis. 

If it were to be supposed, that the general 
doctrine which asserts the existence of mi- 
racles is incredible or uncertain ; or, that the 
miracles of the New Testament want the at- 
testations or the evidence which should en- 
title them to full credit or belief ; this would 
be in truth to suppose, that the whole history 



ON MIRACLES. 



369 



of Christianity is false, or is questionable ; 
and that whatever can be said of the excel- 
lence of its laws and doctrines, of the cha- 
racter of its author, or of the circumstances 
of its promulgation, it can never be entitled 
to be received as an authoritative revelation, 
if both its substance and its history are inse- 
parably involved with the miracles related by 
the evangelists and apostles. 

The opposition of unbelievers to the au- 
thority of the gospel has indeed been, in a 
great measure, concentrated in this single 
point ; in their attempts to demonstrate, ei- 
ther the absolute impossibility of miracles, 
or the impossibility of establishing any mi- 
raculous interposition as a fact, on satisfac- 
tory or conclusive evidence. 

There are many weapons which minute 
philosophers and metaphysical sceptics em- 
ploy, with indirect or avowed hostility, to 
undermine the authority of Christ. But the 
rejection of miracles as impossible or incre- 
dible events, is the strong- hold from which 
they affect to put forth their strength ; and 
which every successive champion of scepti- 
cism occupies, as if he were singly able to 
render it impregnable. 

A a 



570 



ON MIRACLES ' 



The limits of this discourse will not per- 
mit me to attempt any complete or detailed 
discussion, of the authority which belongs 
to the miraculous facts related in the New 
Testament ; which the adversaries of Christ- 
ianity have, for obvious reasons, chosen to 
consider, rather as a subject of metaphysical 
scepticism, than as facts which are to be 
tried by the same rules, which we apply to 
all other historical narratives. 

Every one perceives, that an extraordinary 
event, which every miracle must be, requires 
an attestation which is never demanded with 
regard to common occurrences. But, on the 
other hand, if a miracle be not capable of 
being established by the same kind of evi- 
dence, which convinces us of the certainty 
of every other extraordinary event, and is 
in every instance to be rejected, on the au- 
thority of a metaphysical argument, in which 
all the evidence of the fact is disregarded, 
and its absolute impossibility is assumed, 
it is clear, that the doctrine levelled against 
this leading bulwark of the Christian faith, 
would, if acquiesced in, lead us ultimately 
to a universal scepticism, with regard to 
every other principle of reasonable belief. 



ON MIRACLES. 



371 



It is therefore necessary to give at least a 
general view of the doctrine of miracles, and 
of its intimate connection with every other 
source of evidence for the authority of the 
New Testament. 

I shall begin with general remarks on the 
importance and credibility of miracles, as the 
proofs or attestations of a revelation from 
God ; and shall then attempt to illustrate 
the miracles related in the New Testament, 
and the conclusions resulting from them. 

One preliminary observation it is scarcely 
possible to avoid. 

The latest, and what seem to be consider* 
ed as the most unanswerable arguments a- 
gainst the evidence of miracles, have been 
discussed, if they have not been refuted, by 
authors as well entitled to the characters of 
sound discernment and acuteness — of learn- 
ed men and philosophers — as any individual 
whose opinions they have combated. It may 
surely be stated, without presumption, that 
it is too late in the controversy, to assume 
now, as a self-evident truth, or at least as an 
incontrovertible position, either that miracles 
have never been satisfactorily proved, or that, 



372 



ON MIRACLES. 



from the nature of the subject, no miracle is 
capable of proof. 

It is too late to take the benefit of this as- 
sumption, not only without having stated 
any new argument to support it, but without 
having done much more than assert, rather 
the conclusions than the reasonings, of the 
writers of the last century ; and only to ad- 
vert remotely, and in the most general terms, 
to arguments, by which the most competent 
judges believe both the assumption itself, 
and the conclusions which have been built 
on it, to have been completely disproved. 
Nor is it more reasonable, to exclude, in 
words, the application to religion, of an argu- 
ment against the existence of miracles, and, 
at the same time, to specify, as examples of 
miracles which it is impossible either to 
prove or to believe, events, which are mani- 
festly incorporated with what we receive as 
the revelation of God. 

On the other hand, it can never be thought 
officious or indecorous, in those who are 
thoroughly persuaded of the truth of Christ- 
ianity, and who rest on it their hopes and con- 
solations, for time and eternity, to resist with 
firmness every attempt to sap the founda- 



ON MIRACLES. 



373 



tions of the faith once delivered to the Saints, 
or to point out the tendency of the meta- 
physical dogmas, and sophistical subtleties, 
which are employed to promote a scepticism 
on the subject of religion, equally unfriend- 
ly to its general evidence, and to its practical 
effects. 

On a subject of so much delicacy and inte- 
rest as the doctrine of miracles, I presume not 
to compare any discussion of mine with the 
argument of which the public are already in 
possession, from the ablest and most enlight- 
ened men of their time. But the doctrine of 
miracles is an important branch of the subject 
which I proposed to illustrate ; and, if the im- 
perfection of my representation of it shall 
only detract nothing from the argument 
which I have attempted to illustrate in the 
preceding discourses, I shall not think that 
I have misemployed my time, though I should 
be able to suggest nothing either striking or 
new, on a subject which has called forth the 
learning and discernment of ages. 

I. On the importance and credibility of 
miracles, I remark then, 

1. That every idea of a positive revelation 



5?4 



OK MIRACLES. 



supposes the miraculous or supernatural in- 
terposition of the Deity. 

Whatever we can discover by our own re- 
searches, we receive by the ordinary means 
and instruments which are furnished by the 
established laws of our condition ; but the 
moment that we adopt the idea of a revela- 
tion, we believe the ordinary laws of nature 
and providence to have been changed or sus- 
pended, by that great and invisible Being who 
originally established them, for the purpose 
of conveying, by means independent of them, 
his will or his intentions to the human 
race. 

If this supposition is admitted to be fair- 
ly stated, he who affirms that, because our 
experience of the regular course of nature is 
constant and invariable, no violation or sus- 
pension of it, in any instance, or in any de- 
partment, however attested, is credible in it- 
self, or is capable of being established by 
testimony, or by any other species of proof, 
begins his argument against the authority of 
revelation, by begging the question at issue ; 
and a simple denial of the connection be- 
tween his premises and his conclusion is, 

7 



OX MIRACLES. 



37r> 



therefore, in strict justice, all the answer to 
which he is entitled. His assumption will 
not avail him, till he has been able to as- 
certain, to the satisfaction of competent 
judges, that the experience of other men, 
in all ages before our times, has been inva- 
riably, with not a single exception, the same 
with ours. As long as this is not attempt- 
ed, he is just asserting what he professes 
to prove. 

If he pretends to hold it as certain, that the 
laws and order of the visible universe have 
been invariably what they appear to be at pre- 
sent, in all past ages, and that even a single 
deviation from them has never occurred, — to 
sustain his argument it is manifestly in- 
cumbent on him to shew, that the evidence 
on which he pronounces this to have been 
the fact, is evidence, the same in kind, with 
that which he receives from his personal ex- 
perience. 

If he can only affirm, that the concurring 
testimony of men who lived in the past ages, 
vouches for their experience, as he can attest 
his own, he is not entitled to assume, that the 
evidence for a supernatural revelation, which 
certifies the suspension of the laws of nature 



376 



ON MIRACLES 



in particular cases, by witnesses every way 
competent and unexceptionable, is at all dif- 
ferent in kind, from that on which he relies, 
for what he describes as the uniform experi- 
ence of past ages. It is equally in both 
cases the evidence, not of experience, but of 
testimony, and of testimony alone;* and 
therefore, all the boasted argument, found- 
ed on the invariable experience of former 
times, whether it be opposed to the proof 
received from human testimony, or mere- 
ly distinguished from it, must fall to the 
ground. 

But this is not the whole of the case. The 
constant and invariable experience of any 
number of individuals in the eighteenth or 
nineteenth century, attesting that the laws of 
nature have never been interrupted in their 
time, will by itself prove nothing whatever, 
against the credibility of a supernatural reve- 
lation, in the age of Moses, or during the life 
of Christ ; unless ic could be shewn, by evi- 
dence as complete and unexceptionable, that 
the experience of the age to which the revela- 
tion is referred, was constantly and invari- 



* See Note MM. 



ON MIRACLES. 



377 



ably, without one exception, the same with 
the experience of the present time. If this 
could be certified by satisfactory testimony 
(the only proof which could be offered in 
such a case) there would, no doubt, in this 
instance, be a contradictory evidence, in op- 
position to the proof of a supernatural reve- 
lation. But, till this can be done, which 
there is good reason for believing to be im- 
possible, it is plain, that such a supposition 
is not to be assumed, as if it were already an 
established fact. 

It is obvious besides, that, if the witnesses 
who attest the facts, on which the evidence 
of a Revelation depends, have not only had 
access to sufficient information, but are both 
sufficiently numerous and detached from one 
another, — and, in point of intelligence, vera- 
city, disinterestedness, and all other essential 
qualities, are quite unexceptionable, — it is in 
vain to oppose to their testimony, with re- 
gard to any miraculous event, the mere si- 
lence of contemporaries, who neither wit- 
nessed, nor had the opportunities to witness 
the same events ; who neither attempted to 
investigate them, at the time when they are 
$aid to have occurred, nor appear to have 



ON MIRACLES. 



ever directed their attention to them after- 
wards. * 

That there were enemies to Christianity, 
who, with sufficient opportunities both of 
personal observation and inquiry, did not 
attempt to deny, bur, on the contrary, appear 
to have explicitly admitted the reality, of the 
miraculous events which attest its authority, 
will be afterwards stated, and is indisputably 
certain. That, in like manner, the most distin- 
guished opponents of the gospel, who could 
have no personal knowledge, but who lived 
nearest to the age of its commencement, do 
not appear at any time to have denied, that 
the Christian miracles were real events, but 
seem to have uniformly proceeded on the 
supposition that they were so, is also an un- 
questionable fact, f From neither of these 
descriptions of men, has any information 
been transmitted, to weaken the authority of 
the narratives of the Gospel, or the credibi- 
lity of the Christian miracles. On the con- 

* See Lord Hailes's Cc Disquisitions concerning the Antiqui- 
ties of the Christian Church,*' and his unanswerable refutation 
of Mr Gibbon's insidious remark, that the sages of Rome "over- 
looked or rejected the perfection of the Christian system."—- 
Chap. iv. v. and vi. * 
+ Celsus, Porphyry, Julian. 



UN MIRACLES, 



379 



trary, whatever has reached us from them, 
serves expressly to confirm them both. 

Nothing can, in these circumstances, be 
more preposterous, than to argue, not from 
contradictory information, (of which there 
is not a vestige transmitted,) but from the 
mere silence of their contemporaries, who 
appear to have been completely ignorant of 
the facts, and far removed from the situations 
in which they occurred, and who do not ap- 
pear to have ever bestowed the least attention 
on the subject — than to argue from their si- 
lence, as if it were by itself an irresistible refu- 
tation of the positive testimony of the same 
age, by witnesses whose information or com- 
petency may be denied, but can never be dis- 
proved. 

If it be pretended, that the laws of nature, 
demonstrably established as they are, pre- 
sented the same uniform aspect to all former 
ages, which they exhibit to us in the present 
times, it is plain, that the evidence of this 
fact, as far as it goes, is derived from testi- 
mony, and not from experience ; and that 
any argument which can be built on it, in 
like manner assumes, not only gratuitously, 
but in direct opposition to contradictory tes- 



380 



ON MIRACLES. 



timony, what it should have been employed 
to prove, — that the established order of nature 
was at no period interrupted or suspended in 
former ages. 

Admitting it to be much more probable, 
a priori, that the order of nature has been 
uniformly since it was first established what 
it is at present, than that it has at any pe- 
riod been either interrupted or reversed, — 
this improbability, how great soever, will 
never outweigh the evidence of a fact in op- 
position to it, founded on positive, compe- 
tent, unexceptionable, and uncontradicted 
testimony. If the evidence from testimony 
be complete, we must believe, that, in the case 
referred to, the order of nature has been re- 
versed or suspended ; unless we shall re- 
nounce those principles of belief which have 
governed the conduct of mankind since the 
beginning of the world. 

We know the settled order of nature but 
in a very limited degree, even while we are 
contemplating it as uniform and invariable. 
Seeing but a small part of a great system, and 
comprehending very imperfectly the relations 
of that which we see, we are not entitled to 
pronounce with decision, what deviation? 



ON MIRACLES. 



381 



from the laws which appear to us to be 
established, are either possible or necessa- 
ry ; or whether there may be, or have 
been, occasions to require such devia- 
tions. 

The miraculous interpositions which a po- 
sitive revelation supposes, may, for aught we 
know, have been at all times governed by 
general laws, as well as the ordinary opera- 
tions of nature. If we suppose this to have 
been the fact, it is manifest, that, on the one 
hand, they can never have occurred, except- 
ing when such a revelation required them ; 
and, on the other, that no improbability 
whatever can be attached to them, because 
they have not been more frequently observ- 
ed. 

cc It is but an exceeding little way," says 
one of the most enlightened and profound 
writers of the last century, " and in but a 
very few respects, that we can trace up the 
natural course of things before us to general 
laws ; and it is from analogy that we con- 
clude the whole of it to be capable of being 
reduced into them ; only from seeing, that 
part is so. It is from our finding, that the 
course of nature, in some respects, and so 



ON MIRACLES. 



far, goes on by general laws, that we con- 
clude this of the rest. And if that be a just 
ground for such a conclusion, it is a just 
ground also, if not to conclude, yet to appre- 
hend, to render it supposeable and credible, 
which is sufficient for answering objections, 
that God's miraculous interpositions may 
have been all along, in like manner, by gene- 
ral laws of wisdom. Thus, that miraculous 
powers should be exerted at such times, up- 
on such occasions, in such degrees and man- 
ners, and with regard to such persons rather 
than others ; — that the affairs of the world 
being permitted to go on in their natural 
course so far, should, just at such a point, 
have a new direction given them by miracu- 
lous interpositions ;— that these interposi- 
tions should be exactly in such degrees and 
respects only ; — all this may have been by 
general laws. These laws are unknown, in- 
deed, to us ; but no more unknown, than 
the laws from whence it is, that some die as 
soon as they are born, and others live to ex- 
treme old age; that one man is so superior 
to another in understanding ; with innumer- 
able more things, which, as was before ob- 
served, we cannot reduce to any laws or 



ON MIRACLES. 



383 



rules at all, though it is taken for granted, 
they are as much reducible to general ones, 
as gravitation. Now, if the revealed dispen- 
sations of Providence, and miraculous inter- 
positions, be, by general laws, as well as 
God's ordinary government in the course of 
nature, made known by reason and experi- 
ence, there is no more reason to expect, that 
every exigence as it arises, should be pro- 
vided for by these general laws or miracu- 
lous interpositions, than that every exigence 
in nature should, by the general laws of na- 
ture ; yet there might be wise and good 
reasons, that miraculous interpositions should 
be by general laws ; and that these laws 
should not be broken in upon, or deviated 
from by other miracles. 

" Upon the whole then, the appearance of 
deficiences and irregularities in nature, is 
owing to its being a scheme but in part made 
known, and of such a certain particular kind 
in other respects. Now, we see no more 
reason why the frame and course of nature 
should be such a scheme, than why Christi- 
anity should. And that the former is such 
a scheme, renders it credible that the latter, 
upon supposition of its truth, may be so too ; 



384 



ON MIRACLES. 



and as it is manifest that Christianity is a 
scheme revealed but in part, and a scheme in 
which means are made use of to accomplish 
ends, like to that of nature ; so the credibili- 
ty, that it may have been all along carried on 
by general laws, no less than the course of 
nature, has been distinctly proved. And, 
from all this, it is beforehand credible, that 
there might, I think probable that there 
would be, the like appearance of deficiencies 
and irregularities in Christianity as in na- 
ture ; that is, that Christianity would be li- 
able to the like objections as the frame of na- 
ture. And these objections are answered by 
those observations concerning Christianity ; 
as the like objections against the frame of na- 
ture are answered by. the like observations 
concerning the frame of nature." * 

This view of the subject may be passed 
over in silence and disregarded; but it will not 
be easy to controvert it ; nor is it possible to 
establish a contrary hypothesis. 

Let it just be farther remarked, that, if it 
were to be admitted, that what has been so 
unjustly affirmed to be an argument from 

* Butler's Analogy, Part ii. chap. 4, 



ON MIRACLES. 



335 



experience, for the "uniform and invariable 
order of nature, is decisive against the exist- 
ence, or at least against the credibility of 
any miraculous interposition in contradic- 
tion to it, a consequence would inevitably 
follow, fatal to every principle of Theism, as 
well as to the credibility of a positive revela- 
tion. 

If a uniform and unvaried experience com- 
pels us to reject every evidence to prove, that 
the present order of nature has ever, in any 
instance, been interrupted or reversed, the 
same argument ought to convince us, with 
the same certainty, that the order of nature 
has always been what it is at present, and 
that it will always continue to be so. 

I know not how this conclusion is to be 
separated from the premises ; and it is cer- 
tainly clear, that, if it be fairly deduced, it is 
not the scepticism which rejects the authori- 
ty of a supernatural revelation — of Judaism 
or Christianity ; — but it is the eternity of the 
visible world, and all its gloomy and pesti- 
ferous consequences, which are the result of 
the boasted argument, founded on what has 
been assumed to be a uniform and invariable 
experience of the order of nature. 

Bb 



5S6 



ON MIRACLES. 



Rejecting, therefore, every such hypothe- 
sis, which human ingenuity may render plau- 
sible, but which dispassionate inquiry will 
not fail to demonstrate to be as subversive 
of every sound principle of belief as of the 
authority of positive revelation, we have no 
reason to hesitate in adopting this conclu- 
sion, — That a positive revelation, though it 
does imply the supernatural interposition of 
the Deity to convey it, in opposition to what 
appears to be the ordinary or established 
course of nature, is neither incredible as a 
fact, nor incapable of being satisfactorily 
proved, by the same kind of evidence by 
which every other fact is attested, which one 
age transmits to another. 

To all these considerations it ought to be 
subjoined, that, while miraculous interposi- 
tion is inseparable from the idea of a revela- 
tion from God, there is no example in the 
history of the world, of miracles employed to 
attest any pretended revelation, excepting the 
miracles which are transmitted to us, as the 
proofs of Judaism and Christianity. 

The prodigies of the heathen world, mani- 
fest impostures as they were, were never 
brought forward as attestations of any reve- 



ON MIRACLES* 



387 



lation, or of any new system of religious be- 
lief. They were mere artifices to sustain 
the reigning superstitions, or rather were 
essential articles in those superstitions them- 
selves, which had no other object than to 
keep alive the credulity of the vulgar. 

Mahomet never attempted to confirm his pre- 
tended mission by miracles, and even admit- 
ted, that no commission had been given him to 
work miracles in attestation of his doctrines ; 
and the single fact to which he appealed, the 
wonderful composition of the Koran, will 
not be set down in the class of miracles, by 
any competent and dispassionate inquirer. 

The " lying wonders" of false and de- 
signing churchmen, since Christianity was 
promulgated, have, though in a different 
form, had precisely the same aspect and de- 
sign with the heathen prodigies. They have 
been constantly employed as the engines of 
received superstitions, by which genuine 
Christianity has been perverted, not as attes- 
tations of the genuine religion of the Bible ; 
to which, I am persuaded, it cannot be clear- 
ly shewn, that any thing miraculous has 
ever been added, since the apostolic age. 

The author of the gospel foretold the false 



388 



ON MIRACLES. 



pretensions to miraculous powers, by which 
many successive impostures would be pro- 
pagated, after the establishment of Christian- 
ity ; and expressly supposes, that they would, 
in many instances, become so successful, as 
to deceive (if it were possible,) the Elect, or 
sincere believers themselves. 

His description applies exactly to all the ar- 
tificial prodigies, by which, not the evidence, 
but the corruptions, of Christianity, have 
been upheld, amidst the crooked policy of 
spiritual usurpation, or the ignorance and 
bigotry of vulgar superstitions. But it has 
no relation or resemblance to the genuine 
miracles and signs, by which he who creat- 
ed the world, and established every law by 
which it is governed, originally confirmed 
the mission of Moses and the prophets, or 
ultimately attested the authority of Christ ; 
and which were no longer continued or em- 
ployed, after the purposes were accomplish- 
ed for which they were intended. 

No revelation from heaven is possible, but 
on the supposition of a miraculous interpo- 
sition. But providence does nothing in vain ; 
and from every fact which the history of the 
world has transmitted, we have good reason 

8 



ON MIRACLES. 



389 



to conclude, that, except to convey or to at- 
test a genuine revelation, no real miracle has 
ever been exhibited to the human race. 

The miraculous interpositions of the Old 
Testament were certainly continued, at near- 
er and more remote intervals, down to the 
latest period of the ancient prophetical reve- 
lations. But it is obvious, that this fact was 
the result of the peculiar character and de- 
sign of the dispensation to which they be- 
longed ; both as it was a theocracy, which 
involved, in its very nature, a continued re- 
velation ; and as it was besides a uniform 
and uninterrupted preparation for the New 
Testament revelation, of which it contained 
the first and leading principles, and was in 
truth the beginning or commencement. It 
was under a different, and less perfect form, 
in substance the same revelation, which was 
always in its progress, and which was not 
completed till Christianity was published by 
Christ and his apostles. 

I have also to remark, 

2. That the miracles which attest the au- 
thority of Christianity, are inseparable from 
the history of its origin and progress in the 
world. 



390 



ON MIRACLES. 



I have shewn, in the first discourse, how 
impossible it is to rely on the narratives of 
the Old Testament as authentic history, with- 
out receiving, as of the same authority with 
every other part of those narratives, the rela- 
tion of supernatural events, interwoven with 
the whole series of facts, of which the Jewish 
history consists; the miraculous theocracy 
which distinguished the government under 
which the Jews were placed,- — which forms 
the leading feature of their general history as 
a separate people,- — and which indispensibly 
required, from age to age, the successive re- 
velations which were entrusted to them. 

I have shewn, at the same time, that the 
history of nations far removed from Pales- 
tine, without any reference to Jewish books, 
relates, as traditional information received 
from their remote ancestors, not only the 
leading facts which belong to the Old Testa- 
meat narratives^ but general accounts of the 
most distinguished individuals, whose histo- 
ry is given us by Moses and the prophets ; 
and f what is equally undeniable* the same 
narratives iff substance of the miraculous 
events related by t»em f from the creation of 
the world, and the destruction of mankind 



ON MIRACLES. 



391 



by the deluge, to much more advanced pe- 
riods of the Old Testament history. * 

The arguments employed to prove, that no 
miracle has either been done at any time, or 
can in any circumstances be credibly attest- 
ed, are truly arguments intended to convince 
us, not only that the traditional facts, found 
among so many remote and unconnected na- 
tions, have had no common origin, and be- 
long to no department of universal history ; 
but that the whole series of the Mosaic and 
prophetical narratives, from which they have 
all been manifestly derived, because they re- 
late miraculous events, is not only to be re- 
garded as of no authority, but is, from its 
first aspect, to be set down as manifestly in- 
credible and false, f More than this, though 
what is very inconsistent with it, is attempt- 
ed with the same view. There is not a le- 
gendary tale, or a particle of pretended sci- 
ence, found among heathen nations, which 
has not been eagerly ransacked and celebrat- 
ed by the zealots of scepticism, wherever it 
has been possible for ingenuity to extract 

* Discourse I. p. 13—25. 

I- Hume's Essay on Miracles, p. 152, 153, 4th Edit. 1768- 



392 



ON MIRACLES* 



from them the most remote appearance of 
opposition or contradiction to the Mosaic 
history.* 

Metaphysical acuteness affects to despise 
the common evidence of historical facts ; 
and yet metaphysicians themselves hesitate 
not to bring together the most despicable 
inventions of ancient and modern impos- 
tors, circulated by falsehood and credulity 
alone, to reflect discredit on the Christian 
miracles. 

Ardent and credulous with regard to all 
information which they can torture into hos- 
tility to a divine revelation, they reject with- 
out scruple, as miraculous imposture, the 
whole history of the Jews, for which (in- 
cluding the constitution of their government, 
and the peculiarity of their laws), they have 
more accumulated evidence, than for all 
other ancient narratives existing : They dis- 
regard the memorials of the most ancient 
events and characters, which so many na- 
tions have preserved, and which the Old 
Testament alone has intelligibly explained : 

* See Voltaire's Essay <c sur les Mceurs et L'Esprit des 
Nations," Discours Preliminaire, under the articles " Sanchoni- 
aton — Abraham — L'Inde — La Chine/' &c. 



ON MIRACLES. 



And all this they require to be conceded to 
them, on the credit of metaphysical argu- 
ments, or of scientific discoveries, falsely so 
called : while they assume, as established po- 
sitions, the doctrines which they profess to 
prove. 

I am not, however, discussing at present 
the authority of Judaism, and have only ad- 
verted to it here, for the sake of remarking, 
that the arguments directed against the 
Christian miracles would, if they were well- 
founded, subvert the whole series of the 
Old Testament history of the Jews, as well 
as every coincident fact transmitted by any 
other ancient people. The advocates of scep- 
ticism have expressly applied them to this 
subject) and to the prophecies of the Old 
Testament, as well as to the miracles of the 
Pentateuch ; asserting the falsehood of the 
whole series of the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures, on account of the miracles involved 
in them ; and, in opposition to all the monu- 
ments and traditions of other nations, affirm- 
ing that the Jewish narratives, incredible in 
themselves, are corroborated by no concur- 
ring testimony whatever. 

Though this doctrine is stated by different 



394 



ON MIRACLES. 



writers, in terms more or less explicit, 
sometimes without all reserve, and, on other 
occasions, under the insidious disguise of in- 
direct or implied, rather than asserted, con- 
clusions from assumed hypotheses, there 
can be no doubt, on the one hand, that, if 
the arguments against miraculous interposi- 
tion are at all well-founded, the Jewish books 
cannot be received as containing authentic 
history ; and, on the other hand, that the 
historical being inseparable from the mira- 
culous facts* if the origin and national dis- 
tinctions of the Jews are truly what the Old 
Testament represents them, it is utterly in 
vain to question the reality of the miracles, 
from which they are inseparable. 

We may puzzle ourselves by the intricacy 
of metaphysical dilemmas ; but either we 
have no authentic history of the ancient peo- 
ple known by the designation of Jews, or 
we have a complete attestation of the theo- 
cracy under which they were placed, and of 
the revelations and the miracles which sus- 
tained it from its commencement. 

The same argument certainly applies with 
the same effect to the Christian miracles. 

It is in vain to attempt to separate the his- 



ON MIRACLES, 



395 



tory given us of Christ, and the apostles, 
from the miracles related as performed by 
them. He who frames an argument to 
shew that miracles are impossible, or that no 
miracle can ever be satisfactorily proved, a- 
vowedly attempts to demonstrate, that the 
history of Christ is false, and that the gos- 
pel of the New Testament is an unfounded 
and incredible fable.* 

On the other hand, if we have any authen- 
tic history of Jesus of Nazareth, or of those 
whom he is said to have selected as apostles, 
it is a history inseparably involved with the 
miracles which God did by him, in Judea 
and Galilee, to attest his mission from hea- 
ven ; and which he enabled the apostles to 
perform during his life, and especially after 

* Mr Hume, the apostle of the sceptical doctrine with regard 
to miracles, has not merely admitted, but expressly announces 
this to be the result of his argument, in terms of the most sarcasti- 
cal malignity. " Our most holy religion," he says, u is founded, 
on faith, not on reason ; and 'tis a sure method of exposing it 
to put it to such a trial, as it is by no means fitted to endure. — ■ 
The Christian religion not only was at first attended with mira- 
cles, but even at this day, cannot be believed by any reasonable 
person without one* Mere reason is insufficient to convince us 
of its veracity ; and whoever is moved by faith to assent to it, 
is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which 
subverts all the principles of his understanding," &c. — Hume 7 ? 
Essay on Miracles, 4th edition, 1768, p. 152, 153. 



395 



ON MIRACLES. 



his ascension, in proof of their authority 
from hini. The reality of the miracles is 
inseparable from the truth of the narratives,- 
and every attempt to detach the one from 
the other, is equally vain and insidious. 

If there are believers who persuade them- 
selves that, because miracles are but one 
branch of the evidence for the authority of 
the gospel, they may relinquish the argu- 
ment derived from them, without abandon- 
ing the other grounds on which Christianity 
is built, such unsound and unthinking be- 
lievers have good reason to examine anew 
the foundations of their faith. 

If miracles have never been proved, and, 
from an assumed invariable experience, are 
held to be incredible, then it is equally cer- 
tain, that the argument for Christianity de- 
rived from prophecy i is as effectually demo- 
lished as the proof from miracles. A genu- 
ine and inspired prophecy is as indisputably 
miraculous, as the power to give sight to the 
blind, or to raise the dead. If the Old Tes- 
tament prophecies were only cunningly de- 
vised fables, in which there was nothing 
either supernatural or true, then there was 
no Messiah foretold in the former ages by 



ON MIRACLES. 



397 



the inspiration of God, and Jesus of Naza- 
reth, whatever attributes belonged to him, 
was not a predicted Messiah : Then, what- 
ever he either did, or suffered, supposing his 
general history to be true, he was not, what 
he professed to be, a personage promised be- 
fore, as the author of salvation, either to Jews 
or Gentiles. 

The evidence arising from the promulga- 
tion of the gospel, striking and convincing 
as it is, will, on the same principle, fall to the 
ground. Christianity was certainly promul- 
gated through the greatest part of the Ro- 
man empire, within a few years after the 
death of Christ. It made its way in opposi- 
tion to the rivetted and accumulated super- 
stitions of ages, and it overwhelmed every 
idolatry as it advanced. It had no other 
visible instruments of its progress than the 
twelve individuals who are recorded as apos- 
tles, and a few of their selected companions, 
who had certainly no personal qualifications 
to account for so great an achievement as 
they accomplished. And yet, if there was 
nothing supernatural in the case, to these in- 
struments, and these alone, manifestly dis- 
proportioned as they were, to the effects pro- 



3<J8 ON' MIRACLES. 

duced, must all this astonishing success be 
imputed. There is no argument for the 
authority of Christianity to result from the 
manner or circumstances in which it was 
promulgated, if all miracles shall be held 
to be, if not absolutely impossible, utterly 
incredible ; unless we could suppose, what 
is more incredible still, that, contrary to all 
human experience, men of every class, Jews 
and Gentiles, laying aside their habits and 
prejudices together, became all at once, 
eighteen hundred years ago, so spiritual 
and reasonable, as to renounce their ido- 
latries without reserve, and to embrace, 
with one consent, the pure religion of the 
gospel, from no other influence, than the ear- 
nest remonstrances of the unprotected and 
and uninspired fishermen of Galilee. He 
who can believe such an event to have so hap- 
pened, believes a more astonishing fact, than 
any other to be found in the history of the 
world. And yet this is precisely what he 
must believe, if he admits Christianity to 
have been promulgated, as its history affirms ; 
and, at the same time, holds the miracles re- 
lated in the New Testament to have been, if 
not absolutely impossible, completely in- 
credible. 



ON MIRACLES. 



399 



But what is the most important considera- 
tion of all, the resurrection of Christ from 
the dead, — the great event on which the au- 
thority of Christianity turns, and with which 
all its evidence besides must stand or fall, — 
must be also rejected as an incredible fable, 
if no miracle be either possible, or can be 
satisfactorily proved. As far as human tes- 
timony can convince us, this great event has 
every proof to sustain it. But it is unques- 
tionably the greatest miracle of the gospel. 
Admit the doctrine that experience has de- 
monstrated the impossibility of miracles, or 
at least, that no miracle is capable of proof — 
and the fact, that Christ rose from the dead 
as he foretold, and as his disciples affirm- 
ed, must be rejected as an incredible false- 
hood, which no testimony can render pro- 
bable, and far less can establish. The ma- 
nifest consequence must be, that the whole 
history of Christianity must fall to be re- 
jected as untrue, and that nothing plausible 
can be urged to sustain either the autho- 
rity of its doctrines, or the character of its 
author. This conclusion, not less obvious 
than decisive, is fairly stated by the apostle 
Paul. " If Christ be not risen, then is our 



400 



ON MIRACLES. 



preaching vain, and your faith is vain ; — ye 
are vet in your sins.* 

No candid and competent judge will deny 
the consequence, as an inevitable result of the 
rejection of miracles, either as possible events, 
or as legitimate proofs of a divine revelation. 

It is impossible not to perceive how far 
the reasoning built on those assumptions 
of scepticism is of necessity extended. To 
reject the miracles of the gospel is to re- 
ject the history of Christianity from its com- 
mencement ; it is to reject the narratives of 
the apostles and evangelists, which are its 
only authentic record ; it is to reject the 
evidence for the divine mission of Christ, to 
which he expressly appealed, when he said, 
" The works which the Father hath given 
"ne to finish — bear witness of me, that the 
Father hath sent me " My Father that 
dwelleth in me, he doth the works ; believe 
me, that I am in the Father, and the Father 
in me, or else believe me for the very works' 
sake f it is, last of all, to reject the resur- 
rection of Christ from the dead, the most 
striking and important of all the miracles on 
record, without which, all that is besides con- 



1 Cor. xv. 14 — 17. 



+ John t. 36. sir. 10, 11. 



ON MIRACLES. 



401 



tained in the gospels, would be equally with- 
out authority, and without effect. 

The Christian miracles are so completely 
identified with everything that is essential 
to the faith of the gospel, that they can ne- 
ver be separated from it in the mind of a 
sincere believer. If he could for a moment 
persuade himself, that nothing supernatu- 
ral had attended the origin or progress of 
Christianity, whatever else he believed, he 
would feel himself at once compelled to 
reject, as fabulous or incredible, the history 
of our Lord's birth and of his baptism, 
— of his transfiguration on the mount, 
- — of the power which he exercised to heal 
the sick, and to raise the dead, — of the angels 
who ministered to him in the garden of 
Gethsemane, — and of the prodigies which 
signalized his crucifixion ; — of his trium- 
phant resurrection from the dead ; — of the 
angel of the Lord who descended from Hea- 
ven with a great earthquake, and rolled away 
the stone from his sepulchre, and sat on 
it ; whose countenance was like lightning, 
which made the keepers to quake as dead 
men ; — of his visible ascension to Heaven 
before many witnesses, when a cloud re- 

c c 



402 



CN MIRACLES. 



ceived him out of their sight ; — of the mira- 
culous descent of the Holy Ghost on the 
day of Pentecost ;— of the supernatural gift 
of tongues, and of all the other miraculous 
powers with which the apostles were, from 
that time, endowed, which secured and attest- 
ed the ends of their apostleship ; — of the mi- 
raculous conversion of the apostle Paul, the 
most successful and distinguished minister 
of the New Testament ; and of the many 
signs and miracles which sealed his mission 
among the Gentiles ; — and finally, of the pro- 
phetical revelations given by our Lord con- 
cerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the 
many signals which were to announce it ; 
including the literal accomplishment of his 
predictions on that. most important subject, 
by events which all antiquity has attested. 

Every one must perceive, that if we are to 
renounce as fabulous or incredible such lead- 
ing facts as these in the history of the gospel, 
we renounce Christianity altogether. What- 
ever else we find in the New Testament, must 
be also rejected, as of no importance, because 
of no authority ; as having been delivered by 
those who could not verify their commission 

8 



ON MIRACLES. 



403 



from Heaven, and as possessing none of the 
external characters of a divine revelation. 

I know not how it is possible to evade this 
consequence, if the Christian miracles are to 
be rejected as incredible events ; if there is 
any sound argument to prove, that it is more 
probable, that every attestation of such mi- 
racles is false or fabricated, than, that to pro- 
mulgate the Christian doctrine, or the Chris- 
tian law, the established order of nature has, 
in the instances related in the New Testa- 
ment, been reversed or suspended. 

Christianity is only to be sustained or de- 
fended, on the supposition, that the contrary 
doctrine is the truth — That the miracles of 
the gospel, incorporated with its history, are 
attested by the most complete evidence, which 
can be applied to any fact transmitted from 
the ancient world ; by the testimony of 
those who had complete access to examine 
and were fully competent to appreciate them, 
who had everything in this world put to 
hazard, and no earthly advantage to gain, by 
their testimony ; by the confession of the 
enemies of the gospel, as well as by the tes- 
timony of those who embraced it ; by the 
inseparable relation of the facts in the New 



404 



ON MIRACLES. 



Testament to events which every coincident 
narrative in the history of the world has au- 
thenticated ; and by the astonishing effects 
which Christianity has visibly produced on 
the condition of the world, from its first pub- 
lication to the present time. 

It is in vain to pretend that these facts 
might be admitted, though the miracles 
of the gospel were not allowed to be genu- 
ine. Such a supposition would be more 
incredible than all the miracles on record. 
On the principle on which we could disbe- 
lieve the supernatural events in the history 
of Christ and of the apostles, and yet receive, 
as historically true, the facts which relate to 
the origin of Christianity, and to its progress 
and effects in the world, every rule of evi- 
dence, and of well-founded belief, would be 
completely subverted. 

On the other hand, if the history of Chris- 
tianity bears within itself indubitable pledges 
of the authority and effect with which it was 
at first promulgated, it transmits to every 
generation of believers, incorporated with 
every fact which it relates, not only as credi- 
ble, but as certain events, the incarnation, 
the miracles, the resurrection, and ascension 



ON MIRACLES.. 



&Q5 



of the author of the gospel, and every other 
supernatural fact which attested his mission, 
and " declared him to be the Son of God 
with power." 

He who pretends, at the same time to re- 
ceive the history and reject the miracles, pro- 
fesses to believe what is indeed incredible. 
And he who has the hardiness to dismiss 
both from his creed, impelled either by his 
inclinations or his metaphysics, has as 
much to learn of the nature of evidence, 
as of the genuine history and character 
of the dispensations of God to the human 
race. 

Supposing these remarks to be fairly 
stated, it is still necessary to attend, 

II. To the circumstances which distinguish 
the miracles of the gospel, and to the conclu- 
sions which ought to be considered as the 
fair result of them. 

1. The narratives of the gospel have dis- 
tinctly .stated the public attestation of our 
Lord's mission, and of his doctrine, as the 
great purpose or design, for which miracles 
were performed by himself and his apostles* 

Independent of their effects on those who 



406 



OX MIRACLES. 



were the immediate subjects of them, they 
are uniformly and explicitly declared to 
have been wrought, with the direct view 
of confirming his claim to the character 
of the Messiah. They are from the first 
appealed to as external evidence, both of 
the facts on which the Gospel is built, and 
of the authority of the doctrines which it 
contains. ? Except ye see signs and won- 
ders," said our Lord to the Jews ; " ye will 
not believe ; " How long dost thou make 
us to doubt," said they to him, " if thou be 
the Christ, tell us plainly ;" " Jesus answer- 
ed them, I told you, and ye believed not; 
the works that I do in my Father's name, 
they bear witness of me ; " f " If I do not the 
works of my Father, believe me not ; but if 
I do, though ye believe not me, believe the 
works, that ye may know and believe, that 
my Father is in me, and I in him." $ The 
apostles held precisely the same language, 
with regard to the miracles which they did 
in their Master's name. 6i We are tjis wit- 
nesses of these things," they said to the 
council of the Jews, alluding to his resur- 

* John, it. 48, + Joqd 3 x. %4 % 25. % Ibid. v. S7 ; 38, 



ON MIRACLES. 



407 



rection from the dead, and his ascension to 
the right hand of God, M and so is also the 
Holy Ghost (acting by the miraculous pow- 
ers derived from him,) whom God hath 
given to them that obey him." * " How 
shall we escape, says the apostle to the He- 
brews, <c if we neglect so great salvation, 
which at the first began to be spoken by the 
Lord, and was confirmed to us by them who 
heard him, God also bearing them witness, 
both with signs and wonders, and with di- 
verse gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to 
his will." f 

Whatever may be considered as the result 
of the miracles of the gospel, no doubt what- 
ever can arise, with regard to their general 
object or design, as it is expressed and as- 
serted in the narratives of the evangelists and 
apostles. 

2. The miracles of the Gospel were pre- 
dicted by the prophets of the Old Testament, 
as the distinguishing characters or signals 
which were to announce the promised Mes- 
siah to the world. 

Our Lord directly appealed to this proof 
of his mission, in his reply to the messen- 



* Acts, v. §2. 



f Heb. ii. % 



408 



ON MIRACLEb. 



gers of John the Baptist, who were sent to 
question him concerning the character which 
he claimed. He did the miracles before 
them which the prophets had described ; and 
then he stated, in distinct terms, the attesta- 
tion which was manifestly involved in them, 
of his indisputable claim to the character of 
the predicted Messiah. " Go your way," he 
said, " and tell John what things ye have 
seen and heard ; how that the blind receive 
their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are 
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 
to the poor the gospel is preached : and bles*- 
sed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in 
me." * 

The predictions which have been clearly 
verified, by which the prophets described, 
many ages before the Messiah appeared, the 
miraculous works which were to distinguish 
his mission, manifestly bring a sensible 
weight and interest to every argument for 
the divine authority of Christ, derived from 
the nature of his miracles, or from the cir- 
cumstances which attended them. 

When, without the intervention of any na- 
tural means or causes whatever, he heals the 

* Luke, yii. 22, 23. 



ON MIRACLES. 



409 



sick, and cures the lepers, and gives sight to 
the blind, while he preaches the gospel to the 
poor, as the prophets foretold, — the very first 
aspect of these events > in the history of his 
life, infers the conclusion, that he was truly 
the Messiah of the prophets* 

3. The miracles of the gospel were univer- 
sally performed in situations which secured 
their publicity, and which subjected them as 
directly to the inspection of the enemies, as 
of the disciples of Christianity. 

They were done before assembled crowds, 
without any distinction made between the 
opponents and the friends of the gospel. 
They were done where a great propor- 
tion of those who witnessed them were com- 
pletely qualified, by their knowledge and 
capacity, and thoroughly disposed, by their 
aversion to the doctrine of Christ, to have 
detected any imposition which could have 
been attempted. 

To those who embraced Christianity, they 
were completely satisfactory ; for they firm- 
ly believed, " that no man could do the mi- 
racles which Jesus did, except God was with 
him."* 

* John, iii, 2. 



410 



ON MIRACLES* 



Even they who were most inveterately 
hostile to the pretensions of Jesus of Na- 
zareth, found it impossible to deny the rea- 
lity of the facts, though they attempted to 
deduce from them a different conclusion. 
We have the most authentic documents to 
prove, that they admitted the miracles to be 
real, at the moment when they scornfully 
avowed their rejection of Jesus as the Mes- 
siah. * He was not the Messiah whom their 
national prejudices had taught them to ex- 
pect — a great temporal deliverer. He was, 
on the contrary, a humble and suffering 
man, whose pretensions, they clearly saw, 
would, if realized, disappoint all their na- 
tional expectations. These considerations 
were alone sufficient to determine them ; and 
therefore they obstinately despised and reject- 
ed him. 

But it was impossible even for them to 
deny, that he did most astonishing miracles, 
of which all the people were witnesses. 
And therefore, while they were compelled to 
admit the facts, which were of public noto- 
riety, they attempted to frame an account of 
them., which did not ascribe them to the 



* John, is. 29, 



ON MIRACLES. 



411 



power of God, They said, without even 
the shadow of reason to support their asser- 
tion, that he wrought miracles, and, in par- 
ticular, " that he cast out devils by Beelze- 
bub the prince of the devils * willing to 
have recourse to the agency of any unknown 
or unintelligible power, rather than admit, 
that our Lord, though he did work miracles, 
possessed any authority which might sus- 
tain his claim to the character, of the pre- 
dicted Messiah of the Jews. 

Not only was this the fact, but their tes- 
timony to the reality of his miracles, though 
it was distinctly, was most reluctantly given ; 
and on some occasions, though very unsuc- 
cessfully, they did everything in their power 
to discover, if it had been possible, any cir- 
cumstance which could have enabled them 
to question or contradict them. 

In the case of a man who had been born 
blind, to whom our Lord miraculously and 
instantaneously gave his sight, they searched 
the fact to the bottom ; and after they had 
found it to be undeniably ascertained, they 
cast the man out of the synagogue, because 
he would not do violence to his conviction, 



* Matth. xii. 24. 



412 



ON MIRACLES. 



and admit, at their suggestion, that he, who 
had performed such a miracle, could have 
possibly possessed the power which it requir- 
ed, except it had been given him from above ; 
and because he had the resolution, in de- 
fiance of their threatenings, to avow his per- 
suasion publicly, that such a miracle was an 
irresistible demonstration, that he who had ac- 
complished it could derive his authority from 
God alone. "We know, he said, that God hear- 
eth not sinners; but if any man be a worship- 
per of God, and doth his will, him he heareth. 
Since the world began was it not heard that 
any man opened the eyes of one that was 
born blind. If this man were not of God, 
he could do nothing." * 

These considerations were of no avail with 
those to whom he addressed them. They 
had examined his parents, and had repeated- 
ly examined himself, with regard to the 
facts of the case, — that he had been born 
blind, — that he had received his sight, — 
and (as he affirmed) that this miracle had 
been done by Jesus of Nazareth. And, 
though the facts were beyond all dispute, 
their only reply to his fair and spirited re- 

* John, ix. 31, 22, 33. 



ON MIRACLES. 



413 



monstrance, is thus expressed by the Evan- 
gelist : " They answered and said unto him, 
thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost 
thou teach us ?" and they cast him out of the 
synagogue, * 

These men were certainly unprepared to 
receive any information, in opposition to 
what they were determined to maintain. 
But it is evident, that the miracle in ques- 
tion had been so done, that they found it 
easy to investigate the facts which were in- 
volved in it ; and, what is more important, 
they were compelled to admit that the facts 
were certain, though they persisted in re- 
jecting the conclusion which was the fair 
result of them. They said unto the man 
who had received his sight, " give God the 
praise ; we know that this man is a sin- 
ner." f 

A miracle, so investigated by the avowed 
enemies of the gospel, and after their most 
minute inquiries, admitted by themselves to 
have been certainly performed, though it 
equally contradicted their most inveterate 
prejudices, and their determined resolutions, 
has unquestionably every circumstance to 

* John, t. 34. + Ibid. ix. 24. 



414 



OX MIRACLES. 



establish its authority, which the most fas- 
tidious unbelief can require or prescribe. 

Many other miracles performed by our 
Lord, in the cure of diseases, and in casting 
out devils, were no doubt investigated with 
a similar severity, and were, with the like 
reluctance, acknowledged to have been un- 
deniably real miracles. But one example of 
this kind is sufficient to be specified as the 
proof of their publicity, and to shew that 
they were completely subjected to the ob- 
servation and inquiry of every order of the 
people. 

His miracles were often done by a word ; * 
frequently, without any intercourse what- 
ever with the persons who were the subjects 
of them;f sometimes, even when they were 
removed at a distance from him, and when 
he had never seen them. £ His power, being 
the almighty power of God, equally inde- 
pendent of every description of means or in- 
struments, — he had only to speak the word, 
and the effect was irresistible. 

The miracles which had these peculiar 
circumstances attending them, were as pub- 

* Matth. viii, 2, 3. Luke iv. 35, 36. + Luke, viii. 24. 
+ Luke yii. 2—10, 



ON MIRACLES. 



415 



Ucly done, and were as open to inquiry, as 
any other transaction of his life, and the 
character of the evidence which they afford 
for the truth of the gospel, depends, in no 
small degree, on this important fact. 

Besides the miracles related in the cure of 
diseases, and the expulsion of demons, there 
are three remarkable examples given by the 
Evangelists, in which our Lord raised the 
dead to life. He raised from the dead the 
daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the Jewish sy- 
nagogue ; the son of a widow at Nain ; and 
Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary* 
How many examples of the same kind oc- 
curred during his personal ministry is not 
related. From his message to John the Bap- 
tist, it is probable that there were other ex- 
amples. But these, which the Evangelists 
have selected, were certainly not the least 
striking or important. 

The first of them is mentioned by three of 
the Evangelists, and the circumstances relat- 
ed by them are, in almost every point, ex- 
actly the same. * 

Jairus applies to our Lord in the midst of 
a great multitude of people. Falling down 

* Matth. ix, 18—26. Mark v. 22—43. Luke, viii. 41—56. 



416 



ON MIRACLES. 



at his feet before them all, he implores him 
to come to his house for the cure of his 
daughter, while he supposed her to be still 
alive. Jesus listened to his request, and, on 
his way, was followed by the multitude. A 
miracle of a different kind was performed 
at that moment, (for all the three Evange- 
lists have connected it with his progress 
to the house of Jairus), by the instanta- 
neous cure of an inveterate disease, in a 
person who only secretly touched the hem 
of his garment ; a circumstance, which ren- 
dered the miracle so much the more a sub- 
ject of observation to the multitude, when 
the person who was healed was publicly 
questioned on what she had done. 

At the same instant Jairus was informed 
by his servants, that his daughter was dead, 
in order to prevent him from farther impor- 
tuning our Lord, whose visit to his house 
they then considered as completely unneces- 
sary or useless. * Our Lord, aware of this 

* Matthew's narrative might have led us to have supposed 
her to have been dead when Jairus first addressed our Lord, 
if it were not obvious, that, omitting several circumstances, 
which are mentioned by the other Evangelists, he begins his 
relation at the time when the father knew that she was dead, 
and places the circumstances in n is narrative after that time. 

7 



ON MIRACLES. 



417 



message, encouraged Jairus notwithstanding 
to rely on him, and went steadily on to- 
wards his house, with the multitude attend- 
ing him. 

All the customary and noisy lamentations 
for the dead were already begun ; and our 
Lord found it necessary, for the quiet of 
the family, to remove the mourners, who 
went forth fully prepared to attest to the 
people without the certainty of the death ; 
after having heard with scorn what they 
considered as a doubt on the subject, and 
what our Lord intended as an intimation of 
the maid's immediate restoration to life. 
Putting them forth among the multitude, he 
retained with him the father and mother of 
the dead young woman, and three of his 
disciples ; a sufficient number to witness and 
relate the circumstances of her restoration. 
In their presence " her spirit came again," at 
our Lord's command. The effect was instant- 
ly produced by his almighty word ; and was 
verified to the conviction of every indivi- 
dual, who saw her immediately receiving 
food, as a person in the full possession of 
life and health. 

The event was understood by the whole 



418 



ON MIRACLES. 



multitude ; and the Evangelist Matthew re- 
lates J " that the fame thereof went abroad 
throughout all the land." * The person in 
whose family this miracle was done, was 
sufficiently distinguished as a ruler of the 
synagogue, to render such a remarkable 
event a subject of general attention ; and 
though all the circumstances in the narra- 
tive have the aspect of the most natural and 
unexpected occurrences, which could neither 
have been combined by human contrivance, 
nor anticipated by human foresight, no cir- 
cumstance was wanting, either to ascertain 
the reality of the miracle, or, without any 
apparent ostentation or design, to give it the 
most unquestionable publicity. 

The circumstances attending the second 
example, the restoration of the son of the 
widow at Nain, cannot be represented in a 
more interesting form, than the simple nar- 
rative of the Evangelist Luke. " Jesus," 
he relates, " went into a city called Nain, 
and many of his disciples went with him, 
and much people. Now when he came nigh 
to the gate of the city, behold there was a 
dead man carried out, the only son of his 



* Matth. ix. 26. 



ON MIRACLES. 



419 



mother, and she was a widow ; and much 
people of the city was with her. And when 
the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, 
and said unto her, weep not ; and he came 
and touched the bier, and they that bare 
stood still ; and he said, Young man, I say 
unto thee, arise ; and he that was dead sat 
up, and began to speak ; and he delivered 
him to his mother." * 

The person who became the subject of 
this miracle was unquestionably dead, to 
the conviction of his sorrowing and de- 
solate mother, and of all her friends who 
surrounded her, for they were carrying out 
his body to the grave. A numerous attend- 
ance of the citizens of Nain expressed the 
sympathy excited by this mournful occa- 
sion, and a multitude besides were in at- 
tendance on our Lord, when he met them 
at the gate. 

No miracle could therefore have been per- 
formed in circumstances of more indisputa- 
ble publicity, or where the facts related were 
of easier detection, if any fallacy or doubt 
had been possible : especially when we 
know, that the rumour of this miracle was 



* Luke, Tir,,l 1 — J 5. 



420 



ON MIRACLES. 



spread immediately through all the adja- 
cent country. So far from entertaining the 
slightest doubt of its reality, the whole 
multitude appear to have received the same 
impression. They expressed their feelings 
in the same language, and they published, 
the miracle with the same astonishment. 
" There came a fear on all ; and they glori- 
fied God, saying, A great prophet is risen 
up among us, and God hath visited his 
people. This rumour of him went forth 
throughout all Judea, and throughout all 
the region round about." * 

The only remaining example is the case 
of Lazarus of Bethany. It is related with 
more circumstances than either of the two 
preceding miracles, and from every one of 
them it derives a peculiar interest and pub- 
licity. 

Our Lord was connected with Lazarus 
and his sisters, by habits of personal in- 
timacy and kindness. Lazarus was seized 
with a mortal disease, at a time when Jesus 
was in a distant quarter of the country with 
his disciples. The sisters of Lazarus sent 
him notice of the dangerous illness of their 

* Luke, v. 16, 17. 



ON MIRACLES. 



421 



brother ; but two days intervened before he 
set out on his return to Judea. He knew by 
this time that Lazarus was dead, and he in- 
timated the event to his disciples. 

On this occasion alone, during the whole 
history of his life, he appears to have expres- 
sed satisfaction beforehand, that an oppor- 
tunity was offered him of performing a mi- 
racle, which would make a decisive and last- 
ing impression on his disciples. " I am 
glad, he said, for your sakes, that I was not 
there, to the intent ye may believe." * 

Lazarus had been four days in the grave, 
before the arrival of Jesus at Bethany. The 
affliction of his sisters, and his personal at- 
tachment to their brother, appear to have most 
unusually agitated his kind affections. He 
saw Mary weeping, and the Jews also weep- 
ing who came with her, " and he wept him- 
self ; he groaned in spirit, and was troubled.' 5 
He stood beside the grave, and commanded 
the stone which lay on it to be removed. He 
repelled the doubt of Martha concerning the 
possibility of her brother's restoration, from 
the supposed putrefaction of the dead body 



* John, xi. 15. 



ON MIRACLES. 



at the end of four days. " Said I not unto 
thee," he replied to her, " that, if thou wouldst 
believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God ?" 
And when the stone was taken away, he 
lifted up his eyes to Heaven, and said, f Fa- 
ther, I thank thee that thou hast heard me ; 
and I knew that thou hear est me always ; 
but because of the people which stood by I 
said it, that they may believe that thou hast 
sent me ; and when he had thus spoken, he 
cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth ; 
and he that was dead came forth, bound 
hand and foot with grave clothes, and his 
face was bound about with a napkin ; and 
Jesus saith unto them, loose him and let 
him go." 

There is no miracle on the New Testa- 
ment record, of which the circumstances are 
detailed with the same minuteness. The 
reality of the death of Lazarus is not only 
certified by his being in the grave four days, 
but by the treatment which his body had 
received. It was bound hand and foot with 
grave-clothes, and the face was bound with a 
napkin, excluding the possibility of any con- 
ceivable deception. 

There is a solemnity and a peculiarity in 



ON MIRACLES. 



our Lord's procedure, more than is to be 
found in any other example, from the time 
when he receives the first notice of the sick- 
ness of Lazarus, to the moment when he 
calls him back from the dead. When he 
first expresses his satisfaction that he was 
absent when Lazarus died, for the sake of 
his disciples, and afterwards addresses his 
Father in language of the most unreserv- 
ed and impressive confidence, " because of 
them who stood by, that they might be- 
lieve;" he holds out this miracle to have 
been intended, above all his other miracles, 
as a public and decisive confirmation of his 
mission from God; not only to establish 
the faith of those who were already his dis- 
ciples, but to take away every reasonable 
pretext for doubt or scepticism, from those 
who had hitherto rejected him. 

The occasion was completely suited to the 
design. Lazarus and his sisters were well 
known as persons of condition, who resided 
in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. The 
death of Lazarus was publicly lamented, 
not only by those who were Christ's dis- 
ciples, but, as clearly appears from the nar- 
rative, by others, who, though the friends of 



424 



ON MIRACLES. 



Lazarus and his family, were neither the 
friends of Christ nor of the gospel. These 
also were the witnesses of this signal mi- 
racle, and of all the circumstances attending 
it. With many of them it certainly had the 
effect intended ; for the Evangelist relates, 
" that having seen the things which Jesus 
did, they believed on him." 

It had an effect besides even on those who 
were not willing to be our Lord's disciples, 
though they found it impossible to reject the 
miracle which had been done before their 
eyes ; and it had even an influence on the Pha- 
risees themselves, to whom they went im- 
mediately and reported it. They could not 
withhold their assent to the facts of which 
they had been eye-witnesses, and on the con- 
trary, they reported the miracle to the Phari- 
sees as an unquestionable fact. 

Their report spread an alarm through Je- 
rusalem, greater than any which had till then 
been excited. Lest the progress of the gos- 
pel should overwhelm the nation ; lest all 
their exertions should be ineffectual, to resist 
the influence of Jesus of Nazareth among 
the people ; or to bear down his doctrine, 
supported as it was by such undeniable and 



ON MIRACLES. 



425 



stupendous miracles ; the chief priests and 
Pharisees assembled in council, to deliberate 
how it could be most effectually resisted. Far 
from disbelieving the report which had been 
brought them, they were also persuaded that 
the miracle was real, and that Lazarus was 
truly raised from the dead. But all the ef- 
fect of this persuasion was, to whet their ma- 
lignant indignation against Jesus of Naza- 
reth, and to set their invention to discover 
more effectual means to destroy his influence 
among the people ; convinced as they were, 
that, as long as such miracles were done by 
him, he would infallibly succeed, both in 
attracting disciples, and in establishing his 
doctrine. They said in the council, " What 
do we, for this man doth many miracles ? If 
we let him thus alone, all men will believe 
on him ; and the Romans will come and 
take away both our place and nation." * 

It is plain, that nothing was wanting to 
render this miracle an object of public atten- 
tion, as well to the enemies as to the friends 
of Christianity; and every one must per- 
ceive, that no means would have been neglect- 



* John, xi. 47, 48. 



426 



ON MIRACLES. 



ed to disprove it, if there had been the least 
prospect of success in such an attempt. * 

The termination of our Lord's personal 
ministry was fast approaching ; and there is 
good reason for supposing that the resurrec- 
tion of Lazarus, and its visible effects on the 
people, had no small influence in strengthen- 
ing the combination of his enemies, and in 
confirming their resolution to persecute him 
to death. Lazarus continued to reside at Beth- 
any, a living monument of the miraculous 
power and the divine mission of Jesus of Na- 
zareth. Being constantly there, in the view 
of the great body of the Jews who resorted to 
Jerusalem, to all of whom his miraculous 
resurrection must have been publicly known, 
he was most probably, though a silent, a 
a most powerful instrument of adding to the 
number of Christ's disciples, and of keeping 
alive the impression of his miraculous power 
among every order of the people. For the 
evangelist afterwards relates, " that much 
people of the Jews came to Bethany, not for 
Jesus' sake only (when he was there), but 
that they might see Lazarus also, whom he 

* See Dr Lardner's yindication of three of our blessed Sa- 
Tiour's miracles, in answer to the objections of Mr Woolston. 



ON MIRACLES. 



427 



had raised from the dead ; and that the 
chief priests consulted, that they might put 
Lazarus to death, because that, by reason of 
him, many of the Jews went away and be- 
lieved on Jesus," * 

I have no occasion to follow these circum- 
stances farther than to observe, that such 
facts as these demonstrate, beyond the possi- 
bility of reasonable doubt, both the certainty 
of the resurrection of Lazarus, and the avow- 
ed design, the publicity, and the conse- 
quences, of this astonishing miracle. 

The detail which has been given of our 
Lord's miracles, though but a few examples 
have been selected, is, if it be in substance 
correct, an irresistible demonstration, that 
the mission of Christ was proved by incon- 
trovertible evidence. If the miracles of Christ 
were really performed in the situations, 
and with the circumstances which the evan- 
gelists have related, then it is impossible to 
entertain a doubt, that he was truly the 
Messiah of the prophets, and that " in him 
dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily." 
If we only admit the gospels to be authen* 



* Johu, xii. 9, 10, 1!. 



428 



ON MIRACLES. 



tic books, transmitted to us as they were 
written by the evangelists, we shall find it 
impossible to question the testimony given 
us, for miracles performed with such publi- 
city, as subjected them at the time to every 
possible investigation, and to the inspection 
of the known and public opponents, as well 
as of the selected disciples of the gospel. 
I have still to add, 

4. That the miracles of Christ are em- 
ployed for the advantage of those who are 
the objects of them, in connection with such 
common occurrences or incidents, as na- 
turally furnish the occasion of performing 
them. 

When he healed the sick, gave sight to 
the blind, cured the lame, and raised the 
dead, — and every one perceives, that mercy 
to the sufferers was the immediate object of 
all these miracles, — the occasions, with which 
these demonstrations of his power are con- 
nected, have always the aspect of unlooked 
for occurrences, and never the appearance of 
contrivance or design on the part of Christ 
or his apostles. 

The chief business which occupied our 
Saviour's life was to give instruction to 

4 



ON MIRACLES. 



429 



every order of the people. He began by cor- 
recting the false doctrines by which the an- 
cient dispensation had been perverted, and 
gradually unfolded the leading principles 
which were to distinguish the revelation of 
the gospel. 

With this view, he was constantly in his 
progress from one district of Judea and Ga- 
lilee to another, mixing freely with every 
order of the people, and seizing on every op- 
portunity which offered, to prosecute these 
great objects of his mission. 

His miracles were the attestation of his 
doctrines ; but his instructions and his mi- 
racles were equally the result of incidents, 
as they naturally occurred. It frequently 
happened, that, from the fame of his miracles, 
the sick, or the diseased, were brought to 
him by individuals among the multitudes 
who came to hear him discourse or admo- 
nish ; and that the relief given to them, by 
his miraculous power, was used by him as 
an occasion to suggest or illustrate subjects 
of general interest or instruction. But the 
evangelists as often relate, that the occasions 
on which his miracles were performed, oc- 
curred without any premonition or apparent 



430 



ON MIRACLES. 



preparation whatever. He found the sick, 
as he travelled on the way, in the same man- 
ner as he met the funeral of the widow of 
Nain's son at the gate of the city ; or they 
heard of him as he approached the villages 
where they dwelt ; or they mixed unob- 
served with the crowds who followed him, 
when " as many as touched him were made 
perfectly whole." * 

The circumstances are often different, but 
they have always the aspect of natural inci- 
dents. The miracles performed are works 
of mercy ; and relief to the individuals is 
always the leading fact in the narrative which 
relates them. 

The prodigies of imposture uniformly pre- 
sent the prominent characters of artful dis- 
play and intentional mystery. They are 
created that they may be exhibited ; but 
there is always something behind what is 
shewn, from which the veil of mystery is 
never withdrawn. Whatever the pretended 
transaction is, the prodigy is equally attach- 
ed to its preparation and to its result. It is 
produced, not to enlighten the spectators, 

* Matth. xir. 36. 
8 



ON MIRACLES. 



431 



but to astonish them ; to feed the wonder of 
ignorance, but to repel the approaches o£ 
dispassionate inquiry. 

Every one of these characters is reversed 
in the miracles of Christ. In his life, there 
is no useless or ostentatious display of super- 
natural power. There is no studied prepa- 
ration of circumstances to exhibit his power. 
It is always ready for the occasions to which 
it is to be applied. But the occasions are 
uniformly the natural result of the situa- 
tions in which they occur. They are never 
apparently created for the sake of the mi- 
racles, but always by the circumstances of 
the individuals who come to implore, or who 
evidently require, the mercy which is shewn 
them. 

They are performed with the same unaffect- 
ed simplicity, wherever the subjects of them 
occur ; in the midst of the multitudes of Ju- 
dea, or in the remote retreats of Galilee ; 
where there are only spectators sufficient to 
attest the facts, or under the eye of a cloud 
of witnesses. The miracle is always suited 
to the situation : The situation is never ar- 
ranged for the miracle. 

It is impossible not to be conscious of the 
effect of these considerations on the argu- 



432 



ON MIRACLES. 



ment from the miracles of Christ. His mi- 
racles, equally suited to every situation in 
which they could be employed for the bene- 
fit of human beings, and done with the most 
unaffected simplicity, wherever the calami- 
ties of the wretched called for their exercise, 
come to us, not as wonderful mysteries, 
which human ingenuity could more easily 
arrange than unravel ; but as natural events 
in the life of one who " went about doing 
good," and who exercised the omnipotence 
which he possessed, not to terrify the guilty, 
but to relieve and to console the miserable. 

To all this let it be subjoined, that, as 
every circumstance is unaffected and natu- 
ral in our Saviour's conduct, it is evi- 
dent, from the different histories of his 
life, that this is precisely the aspect which 
it presented to the Evangelists, and which 
each of them has most strikingly impressed 
on his narrative. <c The most amazing in- 
stances of divine power," says an eminent 
writer on the doctrine of miracles, " are re- 
lated by them with such unparalleled and 
unaffected simplicity, as demonstrates, that 
they were neither themselves animated by 
passion like enthusiasts, nor had any design 
of working on the passions of their readers. 



ON MIRACLES. 



433 



The greatest miracles are recorded with as 
little appearance either of doubt or wonder 
in the writer, and with as little suspicion of 
the reader's incredulity, as the most ordina- 
ry incidents — a manner, as unlike that of 
impostors as of enthusiasts ; a manner, in 
which those writers are altogether singular ; 
and, I will add, a manner which can, on na 
supposition, be tolerably accounted for, but 
that of the truth, and not of the truth only, 
but of the notoriety of the events which 
they related* They spake like people who 
had themselves been long familiarized to 
such acts of omnipotence and grace. They 
spake like people who knew that many of 
the most marvellous actions they related had 
been so publicly performed, and in the pre- 
sence of multitudes alive at the time of their 
writing, as to be incontrovertible, and as in 
fact not to have been controverted, even by 
their bitterest foes. They could boldly ap- 
peal on this head to their enemies ; a man, say 
they, speaking of their Master, approved of 
God among you, by miracles, and wonders, 
and signs, which God did by him in the midst 
of you, as ye yourselves also know" * 

* Dr Campbell on Miracles, third Edition, p. 131, 132. 



434 



ON MIRACLES. 



I have hitherto confined myself to the mi- 
racles performed by our Lord himself, and to 
the history of them recorded in the gospels. 

But it must be added, that the miracles 
which were afterwards done by the ministry 
of the apostles, from the time when the 
Holy Ghost was shed on them on the day 
of Pentecost, were performed in the same 
spirit, and have unquestionably the same 
general character with the miracles of their 
Master. They healed the sick, they cured 
the lame, they cast out devils, they raised 
the dead, as he had done. Like his, their 
miracles were done without preparation or 
display, and arose from occasions which 
incidentally or naturally occurred. They 
were also done in public, equally before 
the friends and the enemies of the gospel ; 
with the same signatures of omnipotence, 
which distinguished the miracles of their 
Master ; and with the same direct appeals to 
them, for the authority of the faith which 
they promulgated ; u the people giving heed 
to the things which they spake, and seeing 
the miracles which they did." * They spake 



* Acts, Tiii, 6. 



ON MIRACLES. 



435 



besides to every man in his own language ; 
for the gift of tongues was added to all the 
miracles of mercy. 

But the miracles of the apostles had this 
peculiarity, that they uniformly professed to 
derive, not only the doctrine which they 
published, but all the miraculous power 
which they exercised, from Jesus who was 
crucified. They did everything in his 
name, and nothing in their own. 

They were, on the contrary, forward to 
disclaim all that was in any instance im- 
puted to themselves, either in their doc- 
trines or in their miracles. " Why look 
ye on us," said Peter and John to the peo- 
ple at the temple, after they had restored a 
lame man at the gate, " why look ye so 
earnestly on us, as though by our own 
power or holiness we had made this man to 
walk ? — the name of Jesus, through faith in 
his name, hath made this man strong, whom 
ye see and know ; yea the faith which is by 
him hath given him this perfect soundness 
in the presence of you all." * 

The apostolical miracles were not, like the 
miracles of Christ, confined to Judea or Gal- 



* Acts, iii, 12 — 16. 



456 



ON MIRACLES. 



lilee. They were done wherever the gospel 
was spread, and without distinction, before 
Jews and Heathens. 

But I have no occasion to pursue this 
part of the subject farther. The promulga- 
tion of the gospel, after the ascension of 
Christ, rested on the miracles which were 
clone by the apostles ; which demonstrated 
the authority which they had received from 
their Master, in the same manner as his mis- 
sion from Heaven, had before been attested, 
by the miracles which were done by himself. 

The circumstances of both, allowing for 
the difference in their situations, were pre- 
cisely the same. The miracles of the apos- 
tles were done with the express design of 
confirming their mission from their Master. 
They were miracles predicted, and referred 
to in the commission with which they were 
intrusted. * They had the same publicity 
with the doctrine which they attested. They 
were equally open to the inspection and in- 
quiry of the adversaries, and of the prose- 
lytes of the gospel ; and they were always 
employed for the advantage of those who 
were the objects of them, in connection 



* Mark, x?i. 17. 



ON MIRACLES. 



437 



with the situations and occurrences which 
gave them the opportunities of performing 
them. 

Their miracles were investigated, as their 
Master's had been ; and their persecutors 
themselves were compelled to admit them 
as facts, and to acknowledge, among them- 
selves, that their publicity rendered it im- 
possible to deny their reality. On one re- 
markable occasion, the rulers, the priests, 
and the elders, conferred together in the 
council of the Jews, and said, " What shall 
we do to these men ? for that indeed a no- 
table miracle has been done by them, is mani-^ 
fest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and 
we cannot deny it." * 

There was no want of inclination among 
the chief men of Judea to deny the aposto- 
lical miracles. But the public notoriety of 
the facts rendered such a denial impossible. 
Though they did not hesitate to persecute 
the Christians, their persecution was in vain. 
The people who heard the narratives and 
the doctrines of the apostles, and who saw 
that both were confirmed by unquestionable 

* Acts, iv. 16, 



438 



ON MIRACLES. 



miracles, neither did nor could resist their 
conviction ; " and the Lord added to the 
church daily such as should be saved." # 

The general outline of this representation 
it is impossible to question. It must be ad- 
mitted by every well-informed man, that 
Christianity spread with unexampled rapi- 
dity, at the time to which the New Testa- 
ment refers its origin : That it was at first 
preached in Judea by Christ himself, and 
was afterwards spread by the apostles through 
the greatest part of the Roman empire, within 
less than forty years after his death : That 
it was uniformly preached, on the supposi- 
tions, that the author had been crucified at 
Jerusalem, as the evangelists relate ; That he 
rose again from the dead on the third day ; 
and that he afterwards visibly ascended into 
heaven ; That, while he was alive, he claimed 
the character of the Messiah predicted by 
the prophets, and professed to confirm his 
mission and his doctrines by a continued 
series of the most public and astonishing 
miracles, to which he always appealed, and 
to which his apostles uniformly referred, as 



* Acts, ii. 47, 



ON MIRACLES. 



439 



demonstrations of his right to the character 
which he assumed ; That, since Christianity 
was spread through the Roman empire by 
the apostles, they have been uniformly re- 
presented as appealing to the miracles done 
by their master as unquestionable facts, and 
as irrefragable proofs of his mission from 
God ; And that every narrative of their 
progress relates, that they also wrought mi- 
racles to confirm their mission from Christ ; 
miracles, which they uniformly ascribed to 
the power which they had derived from 
him ; and which, in connection with his ori- 
ginal miracles, have ever since been consi- 
dered by those who have embraced Christ- 
ianity, as demonstrations of the divine au- 
thority of the gospel.. 

These leading facts have not only been 
received as authentic history in the Christian 
church from its commencement, but they 
are perfectly consistent with every historical 
narrative of the age to which they are refer- 
red, which has reached our times. They 
are supported by the narratives of profane 
history, which relate to the same periods, in 
which there was no intention to confirm, or 
sometimes even to allude to them \ and they 



440 



ON MIRACLES. 



agree with the actual state of the world at 
the periods referred to, which,.* as far as it is, 
known, corresponds in every point with the 
narratives of the New Testament. 

On the other hand, whatever any ancient 
.writer, near the same time, has transmitted 
of the progress of Christianity, no contradic-? 
tory history is attempted. The outline, or 
the substance, of the same facts may be 
traced through the ignorance and prejudices 
of the most avowed hostility to Christianity ; 
and, as has before been stated,* the most in- 
veterate opponents of the gospel, who lived 
nearest to the apostolic age, have . neither 
ventured to deny the leading facts in its his T 
tory, nor have attempted to question, much 
less to disprove, the miracles by which it 
was at first confirmed. 

Placing all these circumstances together, 
the miracles of Christianity may be safely 
and confidently assumed, as the public and 
direct attestations affixed to the gospel at its 
commencement. The more thoroughly they 
are examined and understood, they will the 
more clearly appear to contain an irresistible 
proof, that Christianity is the revelation of 



* P. 251 and 378, 



ON MIRACLES. 



441 



God, and that the Christian miracles present 
to us one of the simplest and most powerful 
sources of defence, in opposition to whatso- 
ever can be said against it. 

They who can bring themselves to disbe- 
lieve the miracles of the gospel, and who, to 
be consistent, are compelled to question or 
to neglect the facts in which the miracles 
are involved, will discover, if they shall ever 
dispassionately examine the subject, that 
they have truly abandoned every rational 
ground of hope, as well as of consolation, 
by means of religion. 

On the credit of sceptical and arbitrary 
assumptions, they relinquish, and endeavour 
to subvert the only doctrine, which has ever 
been promulgated for salvation to the human 
race, with any appearance either of reason or 
authority. They profess to substitute no- 
thing in its place ; and the scepticism which 
rejects the testimony given for the narratives 
of the gospel, (the only evidence of which 
the nature of the subject admits,) leaves no- 
thing to console them, but the uncertain and 
comfortless reveries, which insult, without 
disproving, and even without discrediting, 
Christianity. If it be possible that they "car* 



442 



ON MIRACLES* 



bring their own minds to rely on them, it 
is certain, that from them, with whatever 
degree of confidence they imagine them- 
selves to receive them, they can never, in 
any circumstances, derive one cheering ex- 
pectation. 

They are happy indeed who escape the 
contagion of the false and delusive doctrines 
against the authority of religion, which the 
pride of scepticism, and not the want of evi- 
dence, has spread through the world. They 
shall never have cause to regret the confi- 
dence with which they rest on the authority 
of Christ, their most important interests 
through time and eternity. The simplicity 
and godly sincerity with which they em- 
brace the Christian law, attested and en- 
forced, as it was, by the signs and wonders 
which God did by Jesus of Nazareth, in Ju- 
dea ; or the firm and devout reliance which 
they place on the sufferings of Christ, as the 
great propitiation for the sins of the world ; 
on his resurrection from the dead, " as the 
first fruits of them who sleep on his exal- 
tation to the right hand of power ; on his 
intercession before the Throne of Heaven, 
for them who come unto God by him ; and 



ON MIRACLES. 



443 



on his supreme dominion, to which all things 
are subjected in Heaven and on earth, till he 
shall judge at last the quick and the dead, 
and God shall be all in all : He who sin- 
cerely embraces, and whose life is governed 
by this faith, has the witness in himself, 
that he has not believed in vain. He knows 
and feels that his faith attains its end ; and, 
therefore, " that he is born again, not of 
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by 
the word of God which liveth and abideth 
for ever." * 

Notwithstanding the narrow limits, and 
the uncertainty of all human knowledge, 
and the defects which he is conscious be- 
long to the best researches of his own mind 
in the present world, he is fully assured, 
that the faith of the gospel, as the revelation 
of God, is built on a rock, and that it shall 
ultimately prevail against all its opponents. 

He believes, and is sure, that he who de- 
clared himself to have come into the world 
§i to seek and to save that which was lost, 
and to give his life a ransom for many," has 
truly and authoritatively revealed " the 

* 1 Peter, i. 23. 



444 



ON MIRACLES, 



counsel of Qod " for the salvation of men i 
and that " this is life eternal, to know the 
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he 
hath sent." 



RECAPITULATION 

AND 

CONCLUSION. 



The preceding discourses contain detached 
Views of the evidence of the Jewish and 
Christian revelations, which, if they have 
been fairly stated, should lead to one general 
conclusion. 

h The history of Judaism, more ancient 
than any other historical narrative, is the 
pledge of its authority. It is incorporated 
with every department in the history of the 
human race; and, more or less, may be 
traced on the monuments, or in the tradi- 
tions of almost every ancient people. 

The pure theism and sound morality of 
the Jews gave a pre-eminence both to their 
faith and to their general manners, which 
no sound information of the state of religion 
and morals in the ancient world, can deny 



446 



RECAPITULATION 



them. They were certainly, in many points, 
inferior to the enlightened states of Greece and 
Rome; but in rational religion, in practical 
morals, in their exemption from gross vices, 
in the general adaptation of their faith to the 
conditions of the people, and in the authori- 
ty by which their public law was enforced, 
the Jews had at all times a distinction, which 
unquestionably raised them above every 
other people. 

The evidence given to themselves for the 
authority of their religion, verified by the 
history of their ancestors, by the testimony 
and the memorials of every age from the 
commencement of their commonwealth, and 
by the miraculous, theocracy which distin- 
guished their peculiar government, nothing 
could have justified them in rejecting. 

The Christian church receives the Jewish 
Scriptures as containing authentic history ; 
and allows, what cannot be denied, that 
the theism and morality of the Jews had 
the pre-eminence which it claims ; and it 
is indeed impossible to question the autho- 
rity of the Old Testament dispensation, 
without abandoning the most established 
principles of rational belief. 



AND CONCLUSION. 



44? 



2. Scepticism has often attempted to wound 
Christianity by malignant strictures upon 
Judaism ; and in particular, has affected to 
consider the doctrines of immortality, so in- 
timately connected with every sound prin- 
ciple of religion, as having been excluded 
from the Old Testament revelation ; and, 
what is much more important, some of the 
most learned defenders, both of Judaism and 
Christianity, have, from very different views, 
professed to adopt the same idea. 

On the other hand, the sacrifice of Abel ; 
— the translation of Enoch and Elijah ; — the 
faith of Abraham ; — the vision at Bethel, — 
and the last demonstrations of the faith of 
Jacob ; — the language of Job, — of Solomon, 
— of the most distinguished Jewish prophets 
in succession ; — and, what is most important 
of all, the language of devotion which runs 
through every department of the ancient 
Scriptures, and which would lose all its force 
and interest, on any supposition but the 
firm persuasion of the certainty of the world 
to come, added to the animated descriptions 
given by the prophets of the Messiah's reign, 
and of the redemption of the human race, so 
inseparably involved with the immortality 



448 



RECAPITULATION 



of man, go far indeed to demonstrate, that 
the doctrines of immortality, veiled, as they 
were, by the peculiar forms of the ancient 
dispensation, were not withheld from the 
Jewish people at any period of their history ; 
but that, on the contrary, they formed at all 
times an important article of their peculiar 
faith, on which their devout men relied as 
their best consolation, and which, in all the 
ages of antiquity, distinguished Judea from 
every other country. 

This general representation is supported 
by the language of the New Testament; and 
in particular, by the diredt references made 
by Christ and his apostles to the Jewish 
Scriptures, when they professed to illustrate 
the doctrines of immortality, and of the re- 
surrection of the dead. 

There were certainly opinions on the sub- 
ject of an existence after death, among other 
ancient nations, as well as among the Jews. 
But the best of those opinions were removed 
far indeed from the pure doctrine of immor- 
tality which Jews and Christians embrace ; 
and though they had been much purer and 
more decided than they were, they were 
completely inefficient as practical doctrines, 

8 



AND CONCLUSION. 



449 



and were never promulgated, either to con- 
trol the passions, or to influence the con- 
duct of the people at large. They had a 
place neither in the religion nor in the mora- 
lity of the western world ; and in the east, 
they have been at all times employed to 
sustain the pride and tyranny of the superior 
orders, and to pervert rather than ameliorate 
the characters of the multitude. 

On the other hand, the believing Jew 
rested his faith of immortality on the reve- 
lation of God, which was equally accessible 
to every order of the people, and which was 
attested by every fact, on which the history 
or the government of his country depended. 
But, 

S. The great object of Judaism, support- 
ed as it was by the miracles of a theocra-^ 
cy, was to pave the way for a more perfect 
dispensation both of religion and morality, 
which the wisdom of God had reserved for 
the later ages. The institutions of Moses, as 
well as the successive revelations made to 
the Jewish prophets, were all framed and 
arranged with a view to this grand and ulti- 
mate design. 

The leading events and characters in the 

Ff 



4.50 



RECAPITULATION 



history of Judaism, are a typical representa- 
tion of more important events and person- 
ages in the last ages. Every circumstance 
rises naturally from another in the original 
narrative, and answers the purposes with 
which it is primarily connected. The per- 
sons concerned are guided and agitated by 
their own passions and caprices, like other 
human beings, unconscious that they mini- 
ster for distant times, what is afterwards to 
be reported by the gospel ; and the whole 
series of their history, when it is completed, 
terminates in one grand and general object. 
It prepares the way for the more perfect re- 
velation, which was reserved for distant ages, 
and for all the nations of the earth. 

The religious rites of the Jews are pre- 
sented to us in the same light. Every rite 
was moral ; but every rite was also typical, 
and had its peculiar reference to the last days. 
Almost every circumstance in the ceremo- 
nies of Judaism had its counterpart in the 
Christian revelation, of which the institu- 
tions for the Jewish altar were designed to 
be prophetical symbols. The gracious plan 
of providence for the restoration of the hu- 
man race, uniform and consistent from the 

7 



AND CONCLUSION. 



451 



earliest times, was exhibited by the types 
and ordinances of an external ritual, during 
its long period of preparation. But when 
" the fulness of time" was come, the imme- 
diate purposes of the old dispensation were 
completely attained ; and the great archi- 
types appeared, to verify to Jews and Gen- 
tiles all that Moses and the law had prophe- 
sied. The true meaning and intent of ty- 
pical symbols was then completely shewn, by 
the light which spread from Judea to the 
ends of the earth. But, 

4. The instruction received from typical 
predictions, though it is most impressive 
when it has been clearly illustrated, is nei- 
ther so obvious to common apprehension, 
nor at last so completely understood, as that 
which is given by direct prophecies of events 
to come. The distinct prophecies of the Old 
Testament, separated from all that was ty- 
pical, certainly comprehend one of the lead- 
ing sources of evidence, which Christianity 
has derived from Judaism. 

When the predictions, which were confin- 
ed to the state of the Jews, were clearly ve- 
rified by the events to which they immedi-* 



45& 



RECAPITULATION 



ately related, even though they referred to 
nothing beyond them, they became of per- 
petual interest and importance, as indisput- 
able monuments of the continued authority 
of the Mosaic dispensation. They were still 
more important, from the confidence which 
their uniform and literal accomplishment in- 
spired, in the prophetical intimations given 
by the same prophets, which related to other 
subjects, and were not to be fulfilled for 
ages after they appeared on the Jewish re- 
cord. 

The prophecies which were clearly and lite- 
rally accomplished to the Jews, we are bound 
to regard as successive pledges given, from 
the beginning to the termination of the an- 
cient dispensation, of the fidelity and final 
accomplishment of every prediction on their 
record, relating to the last ages, or to the 
condition of the Christian church. The 
prophetical history of the Jews, realized by 
the actual history of the worlds is an indis- 
putable pledge of the authority of the pro- 
phetical books, and of all that the Jewish 
prophets have left on the record of the Old 
Testament, concerning the promised Mes- 
siah, 



AND CONCLUSION. 



453 



' A different, though not less forcible argu- 
ment, arises from prophecies which were 
originally intended to have a double sense 
or application ; prophecies, which related pri- 
marily to the Jews or other ancient nations, 
and ultimately to the history and character 
of the Christian church. The obscurity 
which is in a certain degree essential to 
every idea of prophetic revelation, was easily 
preserved in predictions, which originally 
applied to events in which they received 
an early and subordinate accomplishment ; 
while the chief design of them related to 
much more important transactions in a dis- 
tant age, which were not to be distinctly an- 
ticipated from the terms of the prophecies, 
nor fully understood, till the time for their 
accomplishment should arrive. The autho- 
rity of the prophets was established, when 
their predictions were fulfilled in the first 
events to which they related, though these 
were often in themselves of little import- 
ance, when compared with what were in- 
tended as their ultimate accomplishment. 

A single prediction, to which a double 
sense might be affixed, might have been re- 
garded as containing nothing more than an 



454 



RECAPITULATION 



incidental coincidence. But a long conti- 
nued series of prophecies which have this 
peculiar character, — which are clearly fulfil- 
led in their primary signification, and yet 
contain circumstances hich manifestly went 
beyond it, — which are applied to Christiani- 
ty in the New Testament, and have in this 
view a much more natural and interesting 
form, than when they are limited to their 
original application,— can leave us no doubt 
whatever, that this particular description of 
ancient prophecy has an important place in 
the revelation of God. 

Predictions of a double sense have not in- 
deed all the force of prophecies on the same 
subject, which have only a single and uni- 
form meaning. But when united to a suc- 
cession of predictions which exclusively re- 
late to the same events, and uniformly bear 
on the same points, they must add greatly 
to the weight of the conclusion resulting 
from both. 

The prophecies which relate to Christian- 
ity alone, and which cannot be intelligibly 
applied to any other subject, unquestionably 
1 furnish the chief argument for the authority 
of the gospel, which can be derived from 



AND CONCLUSION. 



455 



prophetic revelation. Though originally so 
far obscure, as not to have deranged the or- 
der of human affairs, they appear, after their 
accomplishment, to have been so clear and 
definite, as to be then distinctly seen to have 
described the events to which they were in- 
tended to relate. Though they were taken 
separately, they would be so. They would 
have been so, though they had been deliver- 
ed but a few years before their completion. 
But most certainly the evidence which they 
afford us is far more conclusive, when we 
consider them as belonging to one continued 
series of prophecy concerning the same per- 
son and the same events — carried on, some- 
times at near, and sometimes at remoter in- 
tervals, from the beginning' of the world to 
the close of the ancient revelation. 

If some of them are more explicit than 
others, each of them reflects some degree of 
light on the rest ; and the whole of them, 
when presented in one view, form a body of 
evidence for the truth of Christianity, far 
more convincing than any proof which can 
result from the accomplishment of the clear- 
est single prophecies, when unconnected 
with the rest of the series. 



RECAPITULATION 



When we see the whole succession of an-» 
cient prophecies combined ; collected at last 
from what superficial observers had regard? 
ed as detached or ambiguous predictions ; 
and see how closely they are linked together 
as prophecies of the Messiah's kingdom, — 
how exactly they apply to the same events, 
in which they were all ultimately designed 
to terminate — how much light every succes- 
sive prophecy reflects on the predictions 
given before — and with how much simpli- 
city and depth of design, the form given 
them in the Old Testament scriptures is 
adapted to the original intentions of God, for 
the restoration of the human race,- — it is im- 
possible not to perceive, that the common 
objections made to prophecy are taken from 
the very circumstances, which most obvious- 
ly indicate profound and unerring wisdom. 

He who will not believe that such a se- 
ries of prophecy, clearly fulfilled, affixes the 
authority of God to that to which it bears 
testimony, or that a revelation, to which such 
a series of prophecy applies, is entitled to our 
faith and confidence, would not be easily 
convinced by any other species of proof 
which could be offered. But, 



AND CONCLUSION. 



45? 



5. The evidence, as well as the substance 
of Christianity, must be ultimately referred 
to the scriptures of the New Testament ; 
and the authority with which the New Tes- 
tament scriptures have come down to us, is 
therefore a subject of primary importance. 

The scrutiny into the history of the pri«r 
mitive church has been more severe than 
any search which has ever been attempted 
into any other facts on record. Its authen- 
ticity is therefore better ascertained, than 
that of any other history or narrative trans- 
mitted to us from antiquity. 

It is clearly ascertained, by the testimony 
of all the ancient authors who have men- 
tioned the subject, that Christianity had its 
origin at the time when the New Testament 
supposes it to have commenced ; and that 
the leading facts in its early history are pre- 
cisely those, which we find in the New Tes- 
tament. It is equally clear, that the books 
of the New Testament were widely spread 
among the Christians, as the writings of the 
authors whose names they bear, during the 
course of the first century ; and that they 
then contained precisely what they still con- 



4iS 



RECAPITULATION* 



tain, as the general history and substance of 
Christianity. 

The canon of the New Testament has been 
established, as we receive it, for at least four- 
teen centuries, to the general satisfaction of 
the Christian world ; and was at no time 
essentially different, in the four preceding 
centuries. The books of the New Testament 
have been received as the authentic scriptures 
of the gospel, from the time when Christiani- 
ty was first published. Whatever differ- 
ences have subsisted among different sects, 
with regard to what the scriptures contain, 
every sect, with few exceptions indeed, has 
professed to receive the same books as autho- 
ritative scriptures ; not only attesting their 
authority by making common appeals to 
them, but guarding their original tenor, by 
the minute application of them to the con- 
troversies of successive ages. 

If the books of the New Testament have 
indeed the authenticity which they claim, 
and if the history of the gospel which they 
contain is admitted to be genuine, then is 
the evidence of Christianity demonstrated 
from age to age. It comes to us from the 
original fountain of truth ; and the testi- 



AND CONCLUSION. 



459 



mony of every successive age ought to add 
to the confidence with which we rely on 
6t the word which, by the gospel, is preached 
to us." 

6. The nature of the facts and doctrines 
which the New Testament contains, sug- 
gests an argument for the substance of the 
gospel, still more striking and forcible. 

The personal history of the author of the 
gospel gives an authority to the writings of 
the New Testament, which the most que- 
rulous infidelity will never be able to sub- 
vert. The life of Christ consists of a suc- 
cession of the most natural, and yet most 
unexpected incidents, which we can imagine 
to be combined. With none of the usual 
opportunities to cultivate his faculties, he 
comes forward at once, the greatest public 
teacher whom the world has ever seen ; pre- 
serving such a uniform dignity of character, 
as fills the most inveterate of his adversaries 
with an irresistible awe, while, among his 
disciples, he is always as much the object of 
reverence as of affection. The calmness, the 
good sense, the undeniable wisdom of every 
sentence which he pronounces, have an irre- 
sistible effect, which, in the same circum- 



460 



RECAPITULATION 



stances, the most impassioned eloquence 
would have failed to produce. Everything 
in his conduct is unaffected and natural ; and 
even opposite qualities combined in his cha- 
racter, neither lessen its consistency, nor 
detract from its perfection. 

In the temper or conduct of all other 
men, their purest virtues are not only charge- 
able with essential defects, but the best of 
them are polluted by positive violations of 
duty. But in the life of Christ, there is not 
only no defect or blemish, but his whole 
conduct, from his birth to his death, is a 
continued series of pure and active vir- 
tues, equally untinctured by weakness or by 
sin. 

The last scene of his wonderful life, would, 
above all, be infinitely interesting, although 
we had no information of the temper of his 
mind before, or of the great design to which 
his death was subservient ; especially when 
he is considered as a voluntary sufferer, who 
gave his life for salvation to the human 
race, in obedience to the command of God. 

Such a life and such a death, as the life 
and death of Jesus of Nazareth, are not to 
be found in all the history of the world be- 



AND CONCLUSION. 



461 



sides ; and yet the whole narrative bears 
such intrinsic marks of authenticity, that it 
would not be easy to conceive it possible, 
that such a relation could have been given 
from any cause, but the certainty of the facts- 
which it contains. 

The nature of the doctrines of Christ, and 
the form and circumstances in which he de- 
livered them, are striking confirmations of 
the authority of the gospel. He presents to 
us, in the native simplicity of incontrovert- 
ible truths, and as facts rather than as prin- 
ciples, the great purposes for which he came 
into the world, — that they who believe on 
him might not perish in their weakness or 
in their sin, but might have everlasting life ; 
— that he might secure the regeneration of 
the human race by the energy of his al- 
mighty word and spirit ; — that he might acr 
complish their redemption from sin and 
death, by his obedience unto death for them, 
and by the spotless atonement which he of- 
fered unto God ; — and that) by his resurrec- 
tion from the dead, he might give complete 
assurance to all men of the ultimate resur- 
rection of the human race, and of the final 
and general judgment at the last day. 



462 



RECAPITULATION 



He represents these doctrines, and those 
which depend on them, with few lengthened 
details, but with all the illustration which, 
at the time when they were delivered, was 
essential to their practical effect. They re- 
ceive the place assigned them in the gospels, 
from the incidents which he employs to con- 
vey them ; and the singular form in which 
they are separately given, serves not only to 
distinguish their author from every other 
teacher, but to incorporate with the most 
profound revelations of unsearchable wis- 
dom and truth, their practical application to 
the conditions of mankind. 

The morality of Christ is not perhaps less 
peculiar to him than the general doctrines 
which more prominently distinguish the 
Christian faith. Compare the morality of 
the gospel with the best doctrines of Greece, 
of Rome, or of India, or even w T ith the more 
correct morality of Judea; and it will be found 
to stand alone, as the only pure and efficient 
morality which has ever been taught in the 
world ; reaching the thoughts and intents 
of the heart, as well as the external conduct 
of mankind ; equally free from every tine- 



AND CONCLUSION. 



463 



ture of worldly policy, and from every de- 
grading licence to perverted passions. 

The life of Christ is besides an insepar- 
able branch of his morality. His personal 
conduct, in situations like our own, is a prac- 
tical commentary on his moral doctrines, 
and furnishes the most irresistible arguments 
to enforce it. 

The peculiar circumstances and charac- 
ters of the apostles, who were first employ- 
ed to promulgate the gospel, afford a strik- 
ing confirmation of their master's authority. 

They had originally every apparent dis- 
qualification for the service for which they 
were destined ; and, during their Master's 
personal ministry, appeared to be as destitute 
of the courage, as of the capacity, requisite to 
accomplish it. But from the day of Pente- 
cost, when the Holy Ghost was shed on them 
by miraculous signs, they exhibited a cha- 
racter so entirely new, as must have filled 
with astonishment every individual who at- 
tended to it, to whom their conduct before 
that time had been intimately known. They 
came then forward, completely masters of 
every subject of their ministry ; and though 
they were surrounded by all the accumulated 



RECAPITULATION 



horrors of persecution and death, the spirit 
of their Master sustained their courage, and 
raised them above all the thrones and domi- 
nions of the world. Christianity was, in the 
course of a few years, spread from Judea to 
the extremities of the Roman empire, in op- 
position both to the bigotry of the Jews, and 
the superstitions of the heathens ; while no 
other visible instruments were employed, 
than the twelve individuals whom our Lord 
had selected as apostles, and a few of the 
converts whom they instructed, and who as- 
sisted them in planting and edifying the 
Christian churches. 

When all the circumstances of this detail 
are united, — the life and death of Christ— 
the peculiar nature of the doctrines and of 
the morality which he promulgated/— and the 
singular history and character of the apostles 
of the gospel — the internal evidence of books? 
which contain narratives so astonishing, can- 
not be easily evaded. 

They who can imagine that all these 
circumstances could be combined, without 
conferring on the New Testament record 
an authority which they are bound to ac- 
knowledge, and cannot conscientiously resist^ 

s 



AND CONCLUSION. 



would not be persuaded by any oilier species 
of evidence, which can be applied to the sub- 
ject. Admitting the facts to be correctly 
stated, we must believe that the New Testa- 
ment comes to us as the revelation of God ; 
and that we are bound to receive what it 
contains, not only as the standard of Christ- 
ian doctrine, but as authoritative princi- 
ples and laws, by which we shall be judg- 
ed at the tribunal of God. But it is evi- 
dent, 

7. That if we rely on the facts and doc- 
trines which the New Testament contains, 
we must receive them on the supposition, 
that they are inseparably involved with the 
miracles, by which God originally confirmed 
the mission of Christ, and attested the au- 
thority of his apostles. 

The adversaries of Christianity have chosen 
to consider miracles, employed as the proofs 
of a revelation from God, rather as a subject 
of metaphysical scepticism, than as facts, 
which are to be tried by the same rules 
which we apply to all other historical nar- 

A miracle certainly requires an attesta- 
tion more unexceptionable and complete^ 

g g 



466 



RECAPITULATION 



than that which we are accustomed to ask 
for common occurrences. But if it is affirm- 
ed to be incapable of being established by 
the same kind of evidence, which convinces 
us of the certainty of every other extraordi- 
nary event, the argument which is levelled 
at this leading bulwark of the Christian faith 
would, if followed out, ultimately subvert 
every principle of reasonable belief. 

It is most important on this subject to 
consider, that every idea of a positive reve- 
lation supposes the miraculous interposition 
of the Deity. It supposes the ordinary laws 
of nature to be changed or suspended by 
him who originally established them, for the 
purpose of conveying his will or his inten- 
tions to the human race, by other means. 
It is clear, therefore, that he who affirms 
that, because our experience of the regular 
course of nature is constant and invariable, 
no violation of it is either credible in itself, or 
capable of being established by testimony, or 
by any other species of proof, begins his ar- 
gument against the authority of revelation by 
begging the question at issue ; and a simple 
denial of the connection between his pre- 
mises and his conclusion, is, in strict jus- 



AND CONCLUSION. 



467 



tice, all the answer to which he is entitled. 
His assumption cannot avail him, till he has 
been able to ascertain, to the satisfaction of 
competent judges, that the experience of 
other men in all ages, has been invariably, 
without a single exception, the same with 
ours. 

If he can only affirm, that the concurring 
testimony of the men who lived in the past 
ages vouches for their experience, as he can 
attest his own, he is not entitled to assume, 
that the evidence for a supernatural revela- 
tion, which certifies the suspension of the 
laws of nature in particular cases, by wit- 
nesses every way competent and unexcep- 
tionable, is at all different in kind from that 
which he describes as the uniform experi- 
ence of past ages. It is equally in both 
cases the evidence, not of experience, but of 
testimony, and of testimony alone. 

It is not less obvious, that the constant 
and invariable experience of any number of 
individuals in the eighteenth or nineteenth 
century, attesting that the laws of nature 
have never been interrupted in their time, 
will by itself prove nothing against the au- 



468 



RECAPITULATION 



thority of a supernatural revelation, in the 
age of Moses, or during the life of Christ. 

We know besides the settled order of na- 
ture but in a very limited degree, even when 
we are considering it as uniform and inva- 
riable. Seeing but a small part of a great 
system, we are not entitled to pronounce 
with decision, what deviations from the laws 
which appear to us to be established, are ei- 
ther possible or necessary ; or whether there 
have been, or may be, occasions to require 
such deviations. 

The miraculous interposition which a po- 
sitive revelation supposes, may, for aught 
we know, have been at all times governed 
by general laws, as well as the ordinary ope- 
rations of nature. On this supposition, they 
Can never have occurred, except when such 
a revelation required them ; and therefore 
no improbability whatever can be attached 
to them, because they have not been observ- 
ed more frequently. 

The miracles, which attest the authority 
of Christianity, are inseparable from the his- 
tory of its origin and progress in the world. 

It is impossible to rely on the narratives 
of the Old Testament, as authentic history, 



AND CONCLUSION. 



469 



without receiving, as of the same authority 
with every other part of those narratives, the 
relation of supernatural events, which is 
interwoven with the whole series of facts, 
of which the Jewish history consists, — the 
miraculous theocracy of the Jews, which 
forms the leading feature of their general 
history, and which indispensibly required 
the successive revelations entrusted to them. 

It is in vain to attempt to separate the his- 
tory of Christ and the apostles, from the 
miracles related as performed by them. He 
who frames an argument to shew that mi- 
racles are impossible, or that no miracle can 
ever be satisfactorily proved, avowedly at- 
tempts to demonstrate, that the history of 
Christ and the apostles is false, and that the 
gospel of the New Testament is an unfound- 
ed and incredible fable. 

To reject the miracles of the gospel, is to 
reject the history of Christianity from its 
commencement ; it is to reject the narratives 
of the apostles and evangelists, which con- 
tain its only authentic record ; it is to reject 
the evidence for the divine mission of Christ, 
to which he expressly appealed ; it is to re- 
ject the resurrection of Christ from the dead, 



4?0 



RECAPITULATION' 



and his visible ascension to Heaven, the 
most important of all the miracles on record. 
Whatever else we find in the New Testament 
must, on the same principles, be also rejected, 
as of no importance, because of no autho- 
rity ; as having been delivered by those who 
could not verify their commission from Hea- 
ven ; as possessing none of the external cha- 
racters of a divine revelation. 

On the other hand, the authority of Christ- 
ianity is effectually established, on the sup- 
position that the miracles of the gospel, in- 
corporated with its original history, are at- 
tested by the most complete evidence, which 
can be applied to any historical facts trans- 
mitted from the ancient world ; — by the tes- 
timony of those who had direct access to ex- 
amine, and were fully competent to appreci- 
ate them ; who sacrificed every thing in this 
world to th^ir conviction, and who had no 
earthly advantage to gain by their testimo- 
ny ; — by the confession of the enemies of the 
gospel, as well as by the testimony of those 
who embraced it ; — by the inseparable rela- 
tion of the facts in the New Testament, to 
the coincident narratives in the history of 
the world ; — and by the astonishing effects. 



AND CONCLUSION. 



471 



which Christianity has visibly produced on 
the condition of mankind, from its first pu- 
blication to the present time. 

The narratives of the gospel have distinct- 
ly stated the public attestation of our Lord's 
mission, and of his doctrine, as the great de- 
sign for which miracles were performed by 
himself and his apostles ; and miracles were 
clearly predicted by the prophets of the Old 
Testament as the distinguishing characters 
or signals, which were to announce the pro- 
mised Messiah to the world ; miracles of 
mercy y as well as miracles of power. * 

To those who embraced the gospel, they 
were completely satisfactory ; and that they 
might want nothing which was necessary, to 
render the evidence resulting from them 
complete, they were universally performed 
in situations which secured their publicity ; 
and which subjected them as directly to the 
inspection of the enemies, as of the disci- 
ples of Christianity. 

Placing all these circumstances and the 
facts which illustrate them together, the mi- 
racles of Christianity may be confidently as- 
sumed, as public and convincing attestations 



* See Note NN". 



RECAPITULATION 



affixed to the gospel, from its commencement* 
The more thoroughly they are examined as 
historical events, they will the more clearly 
appear to contain an irresistible proof, that 
Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah, 
and that Christianity is a genuine revelation 
from God. " If we receive the witness of 
men, the witness of God is greater ; and this 
is the witness of God which he hath testi- 
fied of his Son." * 

From all those different views of Judaism 
and Christianity, the evidence of both, 
whether it be taken from external proofs, or 
from thternal characters, may be in a great 
measure resolved into questions of fact,which 
can be ascertained by the same means, as the 
authenticity of any other memorial of anci- 
ent times. 

While the substance of the Jewish and 
Christian revelations is as open to direct ex- 
amination, in the latest as in the earliest 
ages, we are more competent to decide on its 
manifest superiority to every other system 
of faith or morals, than even they who lived 
in the ages when it was first committed to 



* John., ¥» 9 



AND CONCLUSION. 



473 



writing. As far as the superiority of the 
Christian doctrine and morality has been 
proved, by their effects on the state of the 
world, we have certainly facts to enlighten 
our judgment, which the earliest believers 
did not possess, and which they could 
only anticipate from the manifest tendency, 
or from the immediate effects in their own 
times, of the doctrines which they embraced. 
The history of revelation is the pledge of its 
authenticity ; and the testimony of succes- 
sive ages accumulates the practical demon- 
strations, as effectually as it ascertains the 
original proofs, of its authority. 

Christianity contains the only doctrine 
which has ever been promulgated for salva- 
tion to the human race, with any semblance 
either of reason or authority. It is the only 
doctrine, which is alike suited to the circum- 
stances of every order and condition of man- 
kind ; which is not less effectual to console 
them in the day of affliction, than to teach 
them how to enjoy the prosperity which is 
given them ; which is equally calculated to 
promote their best interests in the present 
life, and to guide them to the faith and hope 
of a better world. 



474 



RECAPITULATION 



They who allow themselves to reject 
Christianity, with all these circumstances in 
its favour ; or, what has exactly the same 
effect on themselves, who venture to neglect 
it, without having ever made it a subject of 
serious inquiry, abandon at once every intel- 
ligible expectation beyond this transitory 
life, as well as every rational consolation, 
which can be opposed, either to inevitable 
calamities, or to approaching death. 

Let us dispassionately consider what they 
abandon, and what we can conceive them to 
embrace. 

They reject all the evidence which was 
given to the ancient Jews for the authority 
of their peculiar revelation, though the exis- 
tence of the Jewish people, at the present mo- 
ment, is a public and standing pledge of the 
authority of their whole history ; and though 
their visible dispersion to the ends of the 
earth, since the predicted and complete de- 
struction of their temple and of their com- 
monwealth, ought to afford an irresistible de- 
monstration to every age of the world, of 
the certainty of the events which occasioned 
their original separation from other nations, 
as well as of those which are to be consider- 



AND CONCLUSION. 



475 



ed as the ultimate causes of their general 
dispersion. 

They reject the evidence for the truth of 
Christianity, derived from the writings of 
Moses and the prophets ; and, as far as they 
enable us to follow the progress of their 
thoughts, they adopt their conclusions from 
objections which they assume, to facts which 
are but partially related, or to supernatural 
events, which, unless as historical facts, are 
beyond the sphere of their inquiries. They 
do not allow themselves fairly to consider 
how minute and forcible the evidence is, 
which Christianity has derived from Ju- 
daism ; how completely the narratives of 
the Old Testament are identified with the 
general history of the world ; or how effec- 
tually the institutions of Moses and the mi- 
nistry of the prophets, paved the way for the 
doctrines and the revelations of the Christian 
church. 

They reject the authority of the New Tes- 
tament scriptures, though their authenticity 
be supported by a chain of evidence, such as 
belongs to no other ancient book existing ; 
while they set down, as if they were incon- 
trovertible truths, every circumstance and 



476 



BECAPITULATION" 



assertion, ascribed to real or pretended an- 
nals of antiquity, which either ignorance or 
insidious ingenuity can employ, to perplex or 
to discredit the narratives of the gospel. 

They reject the long series of miracles, by 
which Christianity was at first confirmed, 
though they have nothing to urge against 
the leading facts in which they are involved, 
but arbitrary or metaphysical assumptions, 
from which they deny what it is impossible 
to disprove, or what they are compelled to 
concede with regard to every other narrative 
of ancient times, where they have much less 
evidence to guide them. 

They reject every fair conclusion which 
ought to be deduced from the astonishing 
success with which the gospel was spread, in 
the first age of its promulgation. The fact it- 
self they find it impossible to deny j but they 
employ all their ingenuity to reduce it to 
the standard of a common event, or at least 
of an event which required no supernatu- 
ral agency ; and which, in contradiction to all 
observation and experience, they affect to re- 
fer to the common prejudices and passions 
of mankind ; though there is no event to be 
compared with it in the history of the world ; 



AND CONCLUSION. 



477 



and though all the prejudices and passions, 
as well as all the powers and authorities, of 
the world, were united against it. * 

They disregard all the astonishing effects 
which Christianity has produced on the 
conditions and relations of mankind, from 
its first publication to the present time ; as 
if it were possible to deny that, from its 
commencement, it has changed the face of the 
world ; and, in place of the gross, the selfish, 
the degrading, and the inhuman vices which 
every form of paganism had spread and 
supported, has introduced virtues of public, 
social, and domestic life, which have given a 
new character to the human race; and which, 
though they had been independent of the in- 
fluence of religion on the consciences, or on 
the expectations, of individuals, are of the 
last importance to the welfare and prosperity 
of human life. They deliberately shut their 
eyes, against the visible effects of Christiani- 
ty on the present world, unquestionable as 
they are, that they may release themselves 
from obligations which its'authority imposes, 

* See Mr Gibbon's Five Causes of the rapid progress of 
Christianity.— -Decline and Fall, cH. 15. 



478 



RECAPITULATION 



founded on the inseparable relation which it 
affirms to subsist, between the conduct of 
mankind in the present world, and their eter-* 
nal condition in a state of existence after 
death. 

Above all, they reject or abandon every 
serious expectation beyond the grave, which 
can be conceived to arise from the facts on 
which Christianity depends ; which they 
either inconsiderately disregard, or insidi- 
ously pervert, or resolutely deny ; and on 
which, the sincere believers of the gospel are 
willing to rest, not only their principles of 
duty, but their comfort in this life, and all 
their expectations of an eternal existence and 
happiness, in a more perfect world. 

If this be in any degree a correct account 
of what they profess to disbelieve, it cer- 
tainly concerns them nearly to consider well 
what that is which they embrace on the other 
side. 

They unquestionably embrace no other 
faith, concerning moral duties or eternal sal- 
vation, which they can seriously pretend to 
place in competition with the morality or 
with the doctrines of the gospel. If they 
affect to set ' religion and morality at vari- 



AND CONCLUSION 



479 



ance, at least they add nothing either to the 
weight or to the purity of their maxims, 
when they abandon the authority of Chris- 
tian morals. While they profess to release 
mankind from what they decribe as the in- 
tolerable fetters of religion, they are in truth 
doing every thing in their power to dissolve 
the most important moral obligations of 
mankind ; and, on the ruins of the mild and 
estimable virtues of genuine Christianity, to 
rear and perpetuate the most pernicious 
vices of the superior orders, and all the atro- 
cities of the lawless multitude. 

W ith all their zeal against the foundations 
of Christian hope, they profess to be in posses- 
sion of no other grounds of assurance, con- 
cerning the world to come ; concerning a 
future state, either of happiness or retribu- 
tion ; concerning any consequences of hu- 
man conduct, to be either expected or appre- 
hended beyond the grave. 

All that they can tell of themselves, is 
absorbed in the wretched insensibility of 
thoughtless indifference, or of obstinate un- 
belief ; and if they shall ever seriously exa- 
mine their slate of mind, they will find, that 
they have nothing to console them, but the 



480 RECAPITULATION 

dark uncertainty concerning all that is ta 
come, which they never set themselves in 
earnest, either to verify or to dissipate. 

By rejecting the evidence of Christianity, 
they renounce the consolations, by which 
the gospel sheds light and peace on every 
habitation of sincere believers ; and, on the 
other side, they have nothing to embrace, 
but the uncertain and comfortless reveries of 
querulous and hopeless unbelief ; on which, 
even their greatest zeal against Christianity 
does not enable them to rely ; and from 
which, with whatever degree of confidence 
they imagine themselves to receive them, they 
can never derive one cheering expectation. 

Our blessed Saviour did not publish his 
doctrines, without forewarning his disciples, 
that, in its progress among many nations, it 
would be often, like himself, despised and 
rejected ; and that it would, in every age, be 
derided by men reputed wise. But he said 
to them, what he says to sincere believers 
of every time, " Blessed is he, whosoever 
shall not be offended in me." 

They are happy indeed, who are consci- 
ous that they embrace the doctrine of Christ 
from full conviction, and that they have an 



AND CONCLUSION. 



481 



habitual experience of its powerful and salu- 
tary influence, amidst all the delusions and 
sophistry opposed to it. They are prepared 
to adhere to it with affectionate solicitude, as 
the solid foundation on which they rest their 
most permanent interests, through time and 
eternity. 

They who are truly in this state of mind, 
amidst all the uncertainty which belongs to 
every human research and pursuit, have a 
practical demonstration within their own 
minds, that they have not embraced the faith 
of Christianity in vain. 

" Many signs," says the Evangelist John, 
" did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, 
which are not written in this book" of the 
gospel, " but those which are written" are 
transmitted to you, " that ye might believe, 
that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and 
that believing ye might have life through 
his name." 



Hh 



NOTES 

AND 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NOTES 

AND 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Note A, p. 8. 
I have taken no notice of Sanchoniathon, whom the 
champions of infidelity so often bring forward as the con- 
temporary of Moses, or rather as an earlier writer. If 
his existence has been proved, the fragments preserved 
by Eusebius and Theodoret, from Philo-Biblius or Por- 
phyry, (the only portion of the writings ascribed to him 
which has reached us,) bear evident marks of a far more 
recent period than that which has been assigned them. If 
he was coeval with Moses, or before him, as has been pre- 
tended, he speaks of Greece long before a Grecian state is 
known to have existed, and most probably before Greece 
was an inhabited country ; and is at the same time guilty 
of the striking anachronism, of representing the building of 
Tyre as a remote event, belonging to an age much more 
ancient than his own. Le Clerc, in his notes on Grotius, 
(Book I. Sect. 16.) says, " that, in the fragments of San- 
choniathon, there is an absurd mixture of the gods unknown 
to the eastern Grecians of the first times, with the deities of 
the Phoenicians 5" and that Dodwel has rendered the inte* 

grity of Sanchoniathon very suspicious, in his Dissertation 

6 



486 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



published in 1681. Amidst the absurdities of the fragments 
in question, they may, in a few instances, serve to illustrate 
the progress of idolatry, though at a later period than has 
been assigned them. 

Note B, p. 10. 
Antiquities of Josephus, Book 13tb, Chap. x. Sect. 6.— 
" The case I take to have been this, (says Dr Jortin, Vol. I. 
of Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, p. 374,) the Saddu- 
cees admitted the prophets, as sent from God to instruct 
and reform the nation, and enforce the law ; but they held 
that all articles of faith and fundamentals of religion were 
contained in the law, and were to be sought nowhere else." 

Note C, p. 14. 
Sir William Jones, one of the ablest and most meritori- 
ous inquirers of modern times, considers the Vedas as entit- 
led to stand next in antiquity to the five Books of Moses, 
(Asiatic Researches, Vol. HI. p. 484.) ; and Mr Colebrook 
(Vol, VIII. p. 493,) professes to give a scientific reason, for 
supposing them to have been written not more than 200 
years after the time of Moses. At the same time, Sir Wil- 
liam Jones observes, (Vol. II. p. 1£5,) *i that whoever, in 
so early an age, expects a certain epoch, unqualified with 
the words about or nearly, will be greatly disappointed." 

Note D, p. \5. 
Mr Colebrook's date, referred to in the preceding note, 
he professes to derive from an astronomical fact, which, 
if fairly stated, may be demonstrated. But if there were 
no other circumstances to ascertain the date, it might at 
least become a question, whether it has not been adjust- 
ed at a later period, to suit the astronomical fact. Mr 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 48? 



Davis has remarked, " that the observations ascribed to the 
Hindoos by M. Bailly, do not necessarily follow from 
any thing that is known of their astronomy ; but that, on 
the contrary, from the nature of the subject, it appears that 
the Call Yug was, like the Julian period, fixed by retrospec- 
tive computation." — Asiatic Researches, Vol. HI. p. *224, 
225, note. See also Cuvier's Essay on the Theory of 
the Earth, (Kerr's translation,) p. 157. He states the same 
fact with regard to the Egyptian and Chaldean computa- 
tions, p. 153, 154. I do not allude to these remarks, be- 
cause I think them of any importance; for the testimony 
of Sir William Jones, with regard to the result of all the 
investigations of the Asiatic Society, goes far indeed to set 
at rest for ever, the insidious doubts or suspicions with regard 
to the authority of the Jewish records, which European phi- 
losophers have attempted to graft on the assumed chronology 
of India. He says, in his tenth Anniversary Discourse, (Asi- 
atic Researches, Vol. IV. p. 14.) " We cannot surely deem 
it an inconsiderable advantage, that all our historical re- 
searches have confirmed the Mosaic account of the primi- 
tive world j and our testimony on that subject ought to have 
the greater weight, because, if the result of our observations 
had beeu totally different, we should nevertheless have pub- 
lished them ; not indeed with equal pleasure, but with equal 
confidence ; for truth is mighty, and, whatever be its conse- 
quences, must always prevail." On this subject, see also Sir 
William Jones's Essay ou the Chronology of the Hindoos, 
and his Supplement to that Essay, (Asiatic Researches 
Vol. II, and the eighth and ninth of his Anniversary Dis- 
courses, Vol. III.). 

M. Bailly has ventured to give a different opinion with 
regard to the Hindoo Astronomy. But, in opposition to 
him, we have the testimony not only of Sir William Jones, 



488 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



but of Mr Bentley, Mr Davis, and every other man 0/ 
science who has been engaged in the Asiatic Researches. 
The arguments of M. Bailly, whatever weight may be 
given to them in Europe, were thoroughly known to Sir 
William Jones, when he wrote his Essay and Supplement 
on the Chronology of the Hindoos; and to the most im- 
portant of them, he has given what he believed to be a sa- 
tisfactory reply. He was able to consult the original books, 
to which M. Bailly was incompetent; and he demonstrates, 
that M. Bailly's information on the subject was both imper- 
fect and erroneous. 

Before I conclude this note, I must remark, that the ano- 
nymous writer of an advertisement prefixed to the fifth vo- 
lume of the Asiatic Researches, edited at London in 1807, 
has quoted from Sir William Jones's preface to the Insti- 
tutes of Hindoo Law, a date given by him to the Vedas, as 
1580 years before Christ, and 90 before Moses left Egypt. 
But he intentionally suppresses the fact, that, on this point, 
Sir William Jones had completely changed his opinion ; 
and that, in his ninth Anniversary Discourse, delivered two 
years before his death, he has expressly set. down the 
Vedas, as only next in antiquity to the Five Books of 
Moses. I forbear to make any remarks on the wanton and 
senseless attack on the Pentateuch, which that advertisement 
contains ; and which one should never have expected to find 
in the same paragraphs with the respectable name of Sir 
William Jones. 

Note E, p. 24. 
Sceptical writers delight to hold up the idolatries into 
which the Jews were sometimes betrayed, in contrast with 
the succession of miracles which ought to have rendered 
their faith impregnable. On this subject, I observe, l.That 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 489 



the idolatries of the Jews were neither so frequent nor so 
permanent, as they have been often represented. In their 
progress through the Wilderness, there are but two exam- 
ples ; and in both, they were almost immediately reclaimed 
from their apostacy. From the time of their settlement in 
Canaan, till the date of the Babylonish captivity, they were 
certainly sometimes seduced by the neighbouring nations. 
But these instances are not so frequent, nor are the idolatries 
imputed to them so long persisted in, as at all to assimilate 
their general manners to the depravity of the nations around 
them. 2. The whole population, with the exception of two 
individuals, at the time when the Israelites came into Ca- 
naan, had either been born in the Wilderness of Sinai, or had 
been there from their early youth. The events arising from 
the miraculous theocracy under which they were placed, so 
uniform in its aspect, and so long continued, must have had 
to them the appearance and the effect rather of ordinary 
providence, than of miraculous interpositions. The pillar 
of fire and the pillar of cloud, and every similar event, 
they must have contemplated with nearly the same feel- 
ings, as those which are excited by the uniform revolu- 
tions of the sun and the firmament. Of consequence, their 
occasional deviations from their faith or duty, though more 
inexcusable from their peculiar experience, and from 
the extent of their information, are easily accounted 
for, notwithstanding the miracles in the Wilderness, on 
the common principles of human nature. 3. There is 
so little foundation for the charge of apostacy, so keenly 
preferred against the Jews, that, though it is admitted that 
they were occasionally seduced under the government of 
their kings, when the miraculous providence, though not with- 
drawn, was by no means so uniform as in the early periods of 
their history, and though, on that account chiefly, they were 



490 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



sent into captivity, — it is unquestionably certain, that from 
the time of the Babylonish captivity, they are distinguished 
above every other people, for their immoveable attachment to 
the faith of their ancestors. Whether they are subdued at 
home, or are mixed with the population of the Roman em- 
pire, or are dispersed on the face of the earth, their peculiar 
manners are so entirely preserved, as to be surveyed by every 
other people with perpetual astonishment. 

Note F, p. 28. 
Judaei, mente sola, unumque numen intelligunt. Profa- 
nos qui Deum imagines, mortalibus materiis, in species 
hominum effingant. Summum illud et eternum, neque muta- 
bile, neque interiturum. Tgitur nulla simulacra urbibus 
suis, nedum templis sunt. Non regibus haec adulatio, 
non Caesaribus honor. — Taciti Hist. Lib. v. Sect. 5. This 
is a testimony for the faith of the Jews, given by one of the 
most enlightened men of antiquity ; who had notwithstand- 
ing the most inveterate prejudices against that people, of 
which there are sufficient proofs in the same section. 

Note G, p. 31. 
See Asiatic Researches, Vol. IV. p. 172, where the 
same thing is asserted of the faith of the Arabs and Tartars. 
See also Sir John Malcolm's Sketch of the Sikhs, p. 147, 
where the Hindoos are said to have degenerated from a 
worship, originally pure, into idolatry ; though it is, at the 
same time, admitted in a note, " that the most ancient 
" Hindoos, though they adored God, worshipped the sun and 
" elements" 



Note H, p. S3. 
The account given of the Sikhs, is surely no exception to 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 491 



this general representation. They have certainly effected 
among themselves, (and they are a great nation,) a material 
change on the system of the Hindoos ; and have proved, 
what has been so often denied, the possibility of persuading 
Hindoos to embrace a system different from their own ; and 
even to consent to the abolition of the distinctions of cast, so 
rigidly preserved, without producing any of the civil convul- 
sions which are so often and so zealously predicted. But 
it must not be forgotten, on the other hand, that even 
Guru Govind, the last reformer among the Sikhs, who pro- 
fessed to restore the purity of their original faith, worship- 
ped at the Hindu sacred shrines ; and that the peculiar cus- 
toms and dress of his followers, are stated to have been 
adopted " from veneration to the Hindu goddess of 
" Courage, Durga Bhavani though it is impossible to 
reconcile the religion and usages which Guru has establish- 
ed, with the belief of the Hindoos. — Sir J. Malcolm's 
Sketch, p. 150, 151. 

Note I, p. 38. 

It is not perhaps quite unnecessary, for the sake of those 
who have not attended to the subject, to say a few words 
on the authenticity of the written record of the Jews, the 
established canon of the Old Testament. 

The Old Testament, as received in the Protestant 
churches, consists of those books alone, which are under- 
stood to have been always acknowledged as canonical Scrip- 
tures by the Jewish church. I make no exception, either 
of the sect of the Sadducees or of the Samaritans, for I do 
not believe that their faith on this subject was essentially 
different. They admitted the authenticity of all the books 
received by the Jewish church, though they affixed a greater 
degree of veneration and authority to the Five Books of 



492 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 



Moses, than to the other Scriptures. On the general sub* 
ject, there were no different opinions among the Jews. While 
our Saviour charges them with many disorderly practices in 
the management of their peculiar privileges, there is not 
the least hint given, in all his intercourse with them, that 
they ever attempted to corrupt, to suppress, or to add to 
their canonical Scriptures. On the contrary, almost every 
one of the Old Testament Books received by us, is quoted 
or alluded to by Christ or his apostles, as authoritative Scrip- 
tures. The Book of Canticles, and perhaps the Book of 
Esther, may be mentioned as exceptions. But their authen- 
ticity is sufficiently established by the Hebrew original, trans- 
lated in the Septuagint version ; independent of the fact to be 
afterwards mentioned, that they are comprehended in the 
twenty-two Books into which the Jews have always divided 
their canon. 

Josephus tells us, (Book I. against Apion, Sect 8.) that, 
though there were innumerable books among the Jews, they 
acknowledged none as divine but twenty-two books ; and 
the Christian writers who lived nearest to his time, are uni* 
versally agreed, that those are precisely the books which we 
receive as canonical, and which, by the Jewish mode of 
computation, make exactly twenty-two; viz. five Books of 
Moses ; the Book of Joshua ; the Book of Judges, in- 
cluding Ruth ; the two Books of Samuel reckoned as one ; 
the two Books of Kings, also reckoned as one ; the two Books 
of Chronicles, likewise computed as one ; the Books of Ezra 
and Nehemiah, set down as one; the Book of Esther; the 
Book of Job ; the Psalms of David ; the Proverbs of 
Solomon ,* the Book of Ecclesiastes ; the Song of Solomon ; 
the Prophecies of Isaiah; the Prophecies of Jeremiah, 
including the Book of Lamentations ; the Prophecies of 
Ezekiel ; the Prophecies of Daniel ; and the twelve minor 
Prophets, computed as one book. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 493 



Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who, in the second century, 
went to the East on purpose to investigate the subject ; and 
•Origen, in the third century, give us the list and the titles of 
the twenty-two books, from whom Eusebius quotes them, 
(Hist. lib. 4. cap. 26, and lib. 6. cap. 25). We have the same 
testimony and the same catalogue from Cyril of Jerusalem, 
(Catechesis, 4. cap. 22,) and from Athanasius and Gregory 
Nazianzen, in the fourth century. The Council of Laodicea, 
about the year 360, asserted the canonical authority of all 
the books received by the Jews ; and their decree, as far as 
it related to the Old Testament, was adopted by the whole 
Christian church, till the time of the Council of Trent. 
The modern Jews acknowledge the same twenty- two books, 
which were arranged by Ezra and others, after their return 
from Babylon. But they arbitrarily divide them, some- 
times into three, and sometimes into five volumes, in which 
the same books and no other are included, as their canoni- 
cal Scriptures. See Leusden's preface to Atheas's Hebrew 
Bible. Amsterdam, 1667. 

It is a remarkable fact, that, in the time of Josiah, King 
of Judah, the High Priest of the Temple found there the 
hook of the Mosaical law, which, by the king's order, was 
immediately and publicly read to admonish the people, and 
which certainly included both the moral and ceremonial 
Jaw. There is no ground for supposing this to have been 
the only copy of the law then existing among the Jews ; 
which would, indeed, have been incredible, not only from 
the nature of their government, but from the recent exer- 
tions of Hezekiah to restore the law to its vigour. But the 
law had been much neglected and forgotten, during the two 
reigns preceding Josiah's ; and the agitation and astonish- 
ment which the discovery of the High Priest appears to 
fcave produced, is only to be accounted for, by supposing, 



494 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



that the writing, which was then found in the Temple, was 
the original writing of Moses, which, according to Deute- 
ronomy 31, 26., was, by his direction, deposited in the side 
of the Ark, and ordained to be kept there in all future 
times, " for a witness " against the defections of the people. 
It is not wonderful, therefore, that the discovery of this ex- 
traordinary and original document should have made all the 
impression on Josiah and the people related, 1 Kings, xxii. 
8., and 2 Chron. xiv. 18. See Jenkin's Reasonableness of 
the Christian Religion, Vol. II. chap. 4. 

The fact here stated, is not related to the subject of the 
Jewish canon, otherwise than as it prevents us from imagin- 
ing, that the book found by the High Priest of the Temple 
was the book of the canonical Scriptures, as far as they 
were then completed, or that the Jewish Scriptures were at 
any time lost, or supposed to have been lost, before this dis- 
covery. The Jews were at all times faithful depositaries 
of their Scriptures ; though we can easily understand how, 
in a time of great degeneracy, this original writing of Moses 
might have been forgotten. 

On this subject, I have still to take notice of the books 
which we set down as apocryphal. Though they contain 
both useful instruction, and in general, narratives of real 
events, the reasons for excluding them from the canon are 
unanswerable. 

They make no part of the Jewish HebrewBible ; and there 
is not the slightest allusion made to any one of them in the 
New Testament; which, considering the numerous quota- 
tions from the acknowledged canon, is quite inexplicable, if 
their authority had been acknowledged, or if they had 
been in general use, in the time of Christ and his apostles. 

Josephus alludes to apocryphal books, (Book I. against 
Apion, Sect. 8.) " It is true," he says, a our history has 

3 • 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 495 



been written since Artaxerxes, (the Ahasuerus of Esther,) 
very particularly ; but has not been esteemed of the like 
authority with the former, (the twenty-two books,) by our 
forefathers, because there has not been an exact succession 
of prophets since that time." This description can only 
apply to the historical books, known to us as apocryphal. 
But in support of the authority of the canonical, and to the 
exclusion of the apocryphal books, he adds, " that during so 
" many ages, no one had been so bold as either to add any 
" thing to the twenty-two books, or to take any thing from 
" them, or to make any change on them." He does not 
mention any of the apocryphal books by their titles ; and 
neither Philo the Jew, nor any Christian writer, for ages 
after his time, have once referred to them. It is clear, 
therefore, that, in the time of Philo and the first Christian 
writers, they had never been received, either by Jews or 
Christians, as canonical Scriptures ; and indeed, it does not 
appear, that there was any written or certain record concern- 
ing them, till three centuries of the Christian aera had elap- 
sed. The first distinct notice of them is found in the writ- 
ings of Athanasius, who, after specifying the twenty-two 
canonical books " received by the whole church," adds, 
that there were other books useful, and appointed to be read, 
which were not put into the canon ; subjoining a list of the 
greater part of the apocryphal books. Gregory Nazianzen, 
in the fourth, and Jerome in the fifth century, affirm, that 
the twenty-two books alone were received as canonical ; and 
the Council of Laodicea, not only excluded the apocryphal 
books from the canon, but they permitted none of them to 
be read in the churches. 

We have, therefore, in support of the Old Testament 
canon, as we receive it, the united testimony of the whole 
Christian church, for the four first centuries 5 and from 



496 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



tbat time, no addition was ever made to it, till the apo- 
cryphal books were adopted by the Council of Trent, 
The Protestant churches have universally rejected the de- 
crees of that Council, on this subject, as well as on others. 
They are completely agreed in holding those books of the 
Old Testament alone as canonical, which were received in 
the first ages of the Christian church, — which are cited as 
authentic Scriptures by the earliest Christian writers, — • 
which were received by the Council of Laodicea, — and 
which are understood to have exclusively composed the 
Jewish canon. 

Some Christian writers are indeed of opinion, that the 
apocryphal books were not only never received by the an- 
cient Jews, but that they were not so much as known to 
them ; and Bishop Burnet in particular, has said, (Expos. 
89 Articles, Article 6th.) that they were very probably 
composed by some Jews of Alexandria, 

Note K, p. 45. 
His argument is in substance this : That the doctrine of 
a future state of rewards and punishments is essential to the 
prosperity of human society ; — that this doctrine made no 
part of the Mosaic dispensation ; but that the defect was 
supplied by an extraordinary or miraculous providence, 
which distributed rewards and punishments with an equal 
hand ; and that the exclusion of the doctrine of a future state 
from that dispensation, jtvhen connected with these propo- 
sitions, is an invincible argument for the divine authority of 
the legation of Moses. It is not necessary to suppose, that 
every part of this argument is useless, though we are com- 
pelled to reject its leading principle, as unfounded and unte- 
nable. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 497 



Note L, p. 57. 

Bishop Horsley (Posthumous Sermons, Vol. II. p. 79— 84.) 
has very peremptorily affirmed, that the same prophecy, far 
from being restricted to a double sense, may receive various 
accomplishments, in events of various kinds, in various ages 
of the world. The example on which he relies, is taken 
from Noah's prophecy, " God shall enlarge Japhet, and he 
shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be bis 
servant." He finds this prophecy fulfilled in the slavery of 
the posterity of Canaan, — in the settlement of European 
and Tartarian conquerors in the Lower Asia, — in the acqui- 
sitions of European traders on the coasts of India, — in the 
propagation of Christianity by means of Japhet's posterity; — 
and he supposes the prophecy to have a different sense, as 
verified in each of these different accomplishments. 

He did not observe, that these are all events of the same 
kind, to which the prophecy applies exactly in the same 
sense. The slavery of Ham's posterity is one fact, of which 
the examples may be given from age to age. The three dif- 
ferent senses in which Bishop Horsley applies the prophecy 
to Japhet's posterity, are in truth but one undivided sense 
of a prediction which has been gradually fulfilling since its 
original date. It does not require even, a double sense to ap- 
ply to the events which he has specified. 

Note M, p. 58. 
Bishop Warburton assumes (in the Divine Legation) that 
the doctrine of a future state was known to the Jewish patri- 
archs and prophets, but was intentionally kept concealed 
from the people. After gratuitously asserting, that the doc- 
trine of immortality was " the mystery which the gospel re- 
presents as hid from ages and generations," he adds, (Vol. III. 
p. 159«) that " the term mystery was borrowed from the 

I i 



498 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



famous rites of paganism, so named, which were communi- 
cated to a few of the wise and great, and kept hid from the 
populace/' 

I have no doubt that the mystery referred to by the 
apostle, was the calling of the Gentiles, and not the doc- 
trine of immortality ; and nothing can be more repugnant 
to the language and spirit of the scriptures, than the suppo- 
sition that there was a hidden doctrine of Judaism borrow- 
ed from the heathen Mysteries, cautiously communicated as 
a special favour to a few wise and great individuals, and 
industriously concealed from the great body of the people. 
On the contrary, all that was revealed to the prophets they 
were specially commanded to deliver to the people, without 
reserve or limitation ; and they were not permitted, in a 
single instance, to keep back any thing. 

Note N, p. 08. 
Bishop Warburtonsays (Vol. IIT. p. 695.), that " St Paul 
explains the nature of the gospel covenant, whereby we are 
restored to the inheritance we lost by Adam's transgression, 
namely, life and immortality . 

Note O, p. 60. 
" Moses," says Bishop Warburton (Vol. III. p. 135.), 
" both knew and believed the immortality of Enoch ; and 
purposely obscured the fact, from which it might have been 
collected f — -A striking admission, which is by no means 
counteracted by the intentional concealment imputed to 
Moses, for which there is no authority but Bishop War- 
burton's system. He adds (p. 239.), " that Moses being 
necessitated to speak of Enoch's translation, it could not be, 
but that a separate existence might be inferred, how ob- 
scurely soever the story was delivered placing Moses in a 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



499 



very awkward situation indeed, between the fact which he 
was compelled to mention, the inference which he was 
bound to conceal, and the manifest inefficacy of his attempt 
at concealment. He observes, besides, that the very laws 
of Moses contain internal evidence of his knowledge of the 
doctrine of immortality ; that the laws against necromancy, 
or invocation of the dead, necessarily " imply, in the law- 
giver who forbids it, as in the offender who uses it, the 
knowledge of a future state ;" a singular statement, if 
Moses was indeed prohibited from conveying, and the peo- 
ple were systematically excluded from receiving, any in- 
formation on the subject. 

Note P, p. 67. 
Bishop Warburton admits that this ejaculation might re- 
spect the salvation of mankind by Jesus Christ. " I grant," 
he says, " it doth so in a spiritual sense ; nay, for aught I 
know, it may in a literal." (Vol. III. p. 329-) 

Note Q, p. 72. 
" When the prophets are joined to Moses," says Bishop 
Warburton, " and have explained the spiritual meaning of 
his law, and have developed the hidden sense of it, it may 
well be allowed, that, from both together, the truth of the 
doctrine of a future state may be collected." (Vol. III. p. 351.) 

Note R, p. 91. 
See Warburton, Vol. II. p. 65, 126, 127. See also Aris- 
totle's Ethics ad Necom. lib. 3. cap. 6. He says explicitly, 
" that death is the final period of existence, and that beyond 
it, there is neither good nor evil for the dead man either to 
dread or hope." 



500 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 



Note S, p. 91. 
Seneca, like all the philosophers, speaks with great incon- 
sistency on this subject. " Cum tern pus advenerit (he says) 
quo se mundus renovaturus extinguat, viribus ista (sc. mor- 
talia) se suis caedent, et sidera sideribus incurrent, et omni 
flagrante materia uno igne, quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, 
ardebit. Nos quoque felices animae, et eterna sortitas, cum 
Deo visum erit iterum ista moliri, labentibus cunctis, et ipsa? 
parva ruinas, ingentis accessio, in antiqua elementa vertemur. 
Felicem filium tuum, Marcia, qui ista jam novit." (Consol.ad 
Marciam, cap. 26.) Seneca probably meant here to assert, 
that the soul has a separate existence after death, till it loses 
it at last in a general conflagration, which is to reduce all 
things to their original elements. But his real disbelief of 
a future state is distinctly expressed in the same book 
(cap. 19.) " Luserunt ista poetas, et vanis agitavere ter- 
roribus. Mors omnium dolorum et solutio est et finis ; 
ultra quam, mala nostra non exeunt, quag nos in illam tran- 
quillitatem, in qua antequam nasceremur jacuimus reponit." 
He says besides, (Suasoria 7.) " Mori naturae finis est, ndn 
poena." 

Note T, p. 92. 
The following inconsistent passages deserve to be quot- 
ed: "Evolve diligentur (he says,) ejus (Platonis, eum li- 
brum, qui est de animo ; amplius quod desideres nihil erit. 
Feci mehercule ; et quidem saepius. Sed nescio quomodo, 
dum lego assentior ; cum posui librum, et mecum ipse de 
immortalitate animorum ccepi cogitare, assensio omnis 
ilia illabitur." (Tusc. Qu. lib. i. sect. 11.)— Preclarum 
autem nescio quid adepti sunt, qui dedicerunt, se cum tem- 
pus mortis venisset, toto ipse perituros. Quod ut sit (ni- 
hil enim pugno) quid habet ista res aut letabile aut glorio- 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. $01 



sum ? Nec tamen mibi sane quidquam occurrit, cur non Py- 
thagorae et Piatonis vera sententia. Ut enim rationem Plato 
nullum afferret (vide quid nomine tribuam) ipsa auctoritate 
me frangeret. Tot autem rationes attulit, ut velle cete- 
ris, sibi certe persuasisse videatur." (Ibid. Sect. 21.) — All 
this is sufficiently sceptical. But the following passages 
go beyond scepticism : " Natura vero sic se habet, ut quo 
modo initium nobis rerum omnium ortus noster afferat, sic 
exitum mors. Ut nihil pertinent ad nos ante ortum, sic ni- 
hil post mortem pertinebit." (Tusc. Quaest. lib. i. sect. 38.) 
" JN T am nunc quidem quid tandem illi mali mors attulit ? 
nisi forte ineptiis ac fabulis ducimur, ut existimemus ilium 
apud inferos impiorum supplicia perferre, &c. — Qua3 si 
falsa sunt, id quod omnes intelligunt, quid ei tandem aliud 
mors eripuit, preter sensum doloris." (Orat. pro Cluentioj 
sect. 61.). 

Note U, p. 93. 
Bishop W arburton, in attempting to reconcile undeniable 
facts to an artificial system, has given very different accountsof 
the immortality believed by the Jews. "What were the sen- 
timents of the early Jews," he says, " concerning the soul ? 
Doubtless the same with the rest of mankind who have 
thought on the matter, that it survived the body ; but as to 
any interesting speculations concerning its state of survivor- 
ship, it is plain they had none." (Vol. III. p. 163.) " Their 
knowledge of a future state might have been obtained from 
a quarter very distant from the old Hebrew traditions, — 
from their pagan neighbours, patched up out of some dark 
and scattered intimations of their own prophets." (Vol. III. 
p. 154.) The argument of all thinking men is here forgotten, 
and pagan is united to prophetical immortality, to teach the 
doctrine to the Jews. How far pagans and prophets had 
the same doctrines, has already been shewn. But when 



502 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Bishop Warburton united them, he felt a difficulty, which 
he was too proud to acknowledge, and cut the knot which 
he could not unloose. 

He had forgotten, besides, that he had given a different 
account of the Jewish doctrine of immortality, (Vol. III. 
p. 135.) where he allows the translation of Elijah to have 
given a more distinct intimation on this subject, than, as he 
says, it would have been prudent or wise in Moses to have 
given. This was neither the information of common rea- 
son, nor was it pagan and prophetical immortality conjoin- 
ed. Last of all, he says, (Vol. III. p. 293.) that " the 
Jews learnt the doctrine of a future state, some small time 
after their thorough re- establishment from the Babylonish 
captivity." So impossible is it for the most learned ingenuity 
to avoid inconsistencies, in maintaining an artificial system, 
which has not truth for its basis ! 

Note X, p. 93. 
Tacitus supposes the Jews to have borrowed their pecu- 
liar rites, or at least many of them, from the Egyptians. 
But when he ascribes the faith of immortality to the Jews, 
though he affirms them to have derived it from Egypt, he 
describes a very different doctrine from that which was held 
by the Egyptians, who adopted the idea of transmigration ; 
and has given a distinct testimony to the faith of immortali- 
ty, as it was truly embraced by the Jews; — " Corpora con- 
dere, quam cremare, e more Egyptio ; eademque cura, et 
de infernis persaasio, calesthim contra." (Taciti Hist. lib. 
5. sect. 5. 

NoteY, p. 131. 

I make this assertion generally, without intending to say, 

that there is no example in which individuals who were not 

l 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 503 



Jews, were at any time employed to utter prophecies. Ba- 
laam is certainly an example to the contrary ; though his 
history occurs before the time when the Jewish constitution, 
and the prophetic system which the Jews were destined to 
carry on, were fully matured. 

Note Z, p. 132. 
Herodotus believed that divination and oracles had their 
rise in Egypt. It is much more probable that they arose 
from traditional accounts of the intercourse of the human 
race with the Creator in the first ages, as it is related in the 
book of Genesis. Cicero says, that all nations were agreed 
that there was such a thing as divination ; and he reasons 
on it by examples, on the supposition, that it might be 
proved, like other facts, by testimony and experience. (Ci- 
cero de Divinatione, lib. i.). His facts will not be readily 
admitted, and are indeed manifest impostures. But such 
impressions as he describes, may, in one form or another, 
be traced in almost every age and nation ; and to them we 
must impute the existence of all the pretended oracles and 
divinations of heathen antiquity, and modern paganism. 
The Sibylline oracles are the most remarkable predictions 
committed to writing in the heathen world, — all of them, 
without exception, gross and fraudulent impostures. The 
first Sibylline oracles were offered to Tarquin, and were 
burnt with the Capitol, in the year of Rome, 670. Of 
them almost nothing is known. A second collection was 
burnt by Stilicho, the Roman General, in the time of 
the Emperor Honorius. The Sibylline oracles, still 
existing, contain nothing belonging to either of these 
collections, and were forgeries of the first, second, or 
third centuries of the Christian aera ; intended, very absurd- 
ly, to furnish an argument for Christianity, from pretended 
pagan divinations. Every fact related of heathen oracles 



504 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



serves to demonstrate, that they were all, without excep- 
tion, gross frauds and impostures, supported by vulgar 
superstitions, and by ignorance and credulity transmitted 
from age to age ; and still more forcibly prove the expedi- 
ency of confining genuine prophecies to that people, " to 
whom were committed the oracles of God." See Dr Jor- 
tin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. from page 
242 to page 26o, and from page 318 to page 342. 

Note AA, p. 148. 
This example supposes, that the high priests of Judea, 
down to the latest periods of the Jewish commonwealth, 
were sometimes employed, on account of their office, as the 
priests of God, to predict future events, even without be- 
ing always aware of the import of their prophecies, and 
quite independent of their personal characters. This clear- 
ly supposes, that even the gift of prophecy by no means 
always implied the foresight, or, at all times, even the purity, 
of the prophets. 

Note BB, p. 149. 
The quotations from the Septuagint in the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, have created some doubts if that epistle was Paul's, 
but without reason. That apostle did not always quote li- 
terally ; and it is certain, that the other writers of the New 
Testament also frequently quote from the Greek version. 
The particular expressions referred to in the text were most 
probably in the original of the Hebrew copies, nearly in the 
same words as the concluding clause of Psalm xcvii. 7.; as 
many other expressions, and even sentences in the Psalms, 
were in like manner taken from the Song of Moses. 

Note CC, p. 179. 
Ferguson, in a tract, entitled, " The Year of our Lord's 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



505 



Crucifixion ascertained, and the Darkness at the Time of his 
Crucifixion proved to be supernatural interprets the re- 
markable prophecy in the ninth chapter of Daniel, and 
concludes his dissertation in the following words : " Thus 
we have an astronomical demonstration of the truth of this 
ancient prophecy, seeing that the prophetic year of the Mes- 
siah's being cut off, was the very same with the astronomical ." 
(Bishop of LandafFs Apology for the Bible, p. 198.). 

Note DD, p. 190. 
The interpretation adopted of this prophecy is in sub- 
stance the same with that which is given by Bishop Sher- 
lock in his third Dissertation, subjoined to his Discourses 
on " The Use and Intent of prophecy." He says, that the 
same interpretation had before been stated by Junius, Tre- 
mellius, Ainsworth, and Joncourt ; and it does appear to me 
to be a more striking and probable interpretation than any 
other. 

Note EE, p. 219. 
The reasons given, both by Michaelis and Mr Jones, for 
the remote antiquity of the old Syriac version, especially those 
stated by Michaelis, appear to my mind satisfactory. I 
think it is in a great measure established, that this version 
was in use at a period very near the age of the apostles, if 
not during the course of the first century. It contains the 
four gospels, all the epistles of St Paul, including the epistle 
to the Hebrews, the first epistle of John, the first epistle of 
Peter, and the epistle of James. The books omitted, in- 
cluding the book of Revelation, might not then have been 
written, or at least might not have been then widely circu- 
lated. And a version of this remote antiquity, containing 
the same texts, with almost no variation, which are still 
read by all the Christian churches, ought certainly to be 



506 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



regarded as a most important document, in ascertaining the 
integrity of the New Testament scriptures, and the early 
period at which they assumed their established form. The 
more modern Syriac versions, must not be confounded 
with the ancient version. See Michaelis's Introduction, 
Vol. II. Part I. ch. vii. Jones on the Canon, ch. xiv. — 
xix. 

• Note FF, p. 233. 

Origen's answer to Celsus is certainly one of the most 
important books which the ancient fathers have left us ; not 
only because it contains a sound answer to the objections 
brought by Celsus against Christianity, but, the works of 
Celsus being lost, because it has preserved, in his own words, 
the arguments by which he attempted to destroy the credit 
of the gospel, at a time when its original history was recent, 
and when there was still an opportunity to investigate the 
facts on which it depended. Celsus had every apparent ad- 
vantage ; for he wrote while the Christians were persecuted 
under Marcus Antoninus. But instead of undermining, his 
books are certainly calculated to confirm Christianity in the 
most material points. In attempting to expose, by relating 
the facts in the gospel, he attests them ; and he clearly shews, 
in attempting to combat the substance of the New Testa- 
ment, that he knew the books to be authentic, and the ge- 
neral history contained in them to be certain. He often, by 
quotations or allusions, attests the substance, as well as the 
narratives, of the New Testament ; and, on the whole, the 
fragments of the works of Celsus will always be regarded as 
containing most important information, to vindicate the 
authenticity of the gospel history. See Dr Lardner's Jew- 
ish aud Heathen Testimonies, under the article " Celsus." 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



507 



Note GG, p. 2.-53. 
Porphyry, in opposing Christianity, did not follow the tract 
pointed out by Celsus, though his object was the same, and 
though his talents were probably greater. He bent his force 
chiefly against the authority of the books of the New Testa- 
ment ; and this he attempted, not by questioning their au- 
thenticity, but by endeavouring to detect what be consider- 
ed as contradictions contained in them. But he had no 
contrary narrative to oppose to them ; and though his abili- 
ties were certainly considerable, he has contributed, as 
well as Celsus, to verify, instead of discrediting, the New 
Testament text ; and the contradictions which he pretended 
to find in it, have ultimately made no impression whatever to 
its prejudice. See Cave's Historia Literaria, p. 109. — 'Por- 
phyry wrote against the Mosaic History and the Jewish An- 
tiquities, as well as against the books of the New Testa- 
ment. 

P. 254. 

Celsus pretended, that he " could have said many things 
concerning the affairs of Jesus, and those true too, dif- 
ferent from those written by the disciples of Jesus, (allud- 
ing to the New Testament writers) but that he had purpose- 
ly omitted them." Origen has observed, that this declara- 
tion was nothing more than a rhetorical flourish, as there 
could be no doubt, that, if Celsus could have contradicted 
the narratives of the gospels, in any material points, he 
would have eagerly done so. He did indeed purposely omit 
such contradictions ; because he was fully aware, that, in 
that age, they could have gained no credit. A distant hint 
that he might have given different narratives, was more likely 
to have answered his malignant views, than any attempt to 
bring forward pretended narratives, which would have been 



508 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 



immediately refuted, could hatfe beeu. See Dr LardnerV 
Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, ch. xviii. sect. 3. 

Note HH, p. 297. 
" It does not appear, that ever it came into the minds of the 
writers of the gospels, to consider how this or that action 
would appear to mankind, or what objections might be 
raised upon them. But without at all attending to this, 
they lay the facts before you, at no pains to think whether 
they would appear credible or not. If the reader will not 
believe their testimony, there is no help for it ; they tell the 
truth, and attend to nothing else. Surely this looks like 
sincerity ; and that they published nothing to the world but 
what, upon the best evidence, they believed themselves." 

(Duchal's Sermons, p. 97, 98.) " Christ's life is not 

praised in the gospels, his death is not lamented, his friends 
are not commended, his enemies are not reproached, uor 
even blamed, but every thing is told naked and unadorned, 
just as it happened, and all who read it are left to judge, and 
make reflections for themselves." (Macknight's Harmony, 
Preliminary Observations, p. 65.) 

Note II, p. 301. 
The passage here referred to, a striking and eloquent 
passage surely, has been often quoted, and was quoted by 
the author in a printed Sermon in 1777- Rousseau, the 
most inconsistent but the most eloquent of modern sceptics, 
is certainly not entitled to much respect from his personal 
conduct, and did at least as much to sap the foundations of 
morality, as to shake the principles of Christian belief. The 
passage quoted has, however, the same truth and energy, as 
if it had been the production of a more consistent writer. * 

* By an oversight ia the printing, the reference KK has been omitted. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



509 



Note LL, p. 354. 
It affords no inconsiderable presumption that the James 
here mentioned was James an apostle, (not the brother of 
John, whose martyrdom had happened before the period 
about to be referred to, but James) the son of Alpheus ; and 
the same James who presided in the church of Jerusalem, to 
whom Peter directed his release from prison to be intimated, 
— That when St Paul relates his journey to Jerusalem to see 
Peter, he mentions his introduction there to James " the 
" Lord's brother," (that is, James the son of Alpheus, Galat. 
1. 19-); an d that when he mentions another of his visits to 
Jerusalem fourteen years later, and refers to " James, 
" Cephas, and John," as pillars of the Christian church, he 
places James Jirst of the three, thereby clearly designating 
him as an apostle. — Galat. ii. Q. All these descriptions 
seem to apply to the same James. 

Note MM, p. 376. 
Mr Hume, in his Letter to Dr Blair, inserted in the preface 
to the third edition of Dr Campbell's Essay on Miracles, p. 
16., admits explicitly, that the position here assumed is un- 
questionable, however inconsistent with his favourite hypothe- 
sis. His words are these : u No man can have any other ex- 
" perience but his own. The experience of others becomes 
" his, only by the credit which he gives to their testimony, 
" which proceeds from his own experience of human na- 
u ture." 1 do not see how Dr Campbell could have re- 
quired more to be conceded to him. The notes in this letter 
are the only thing like an answer, which Mr Hume ever 
gave to any of those who wrote against him. 

Note NN, p. 471. 
I subjoin here what has not been mentioned in its proper 



510 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

place. Three examples occur in the Evangelical history, 
which may be considered as exceptions to the general ac- 
count given of our Lord's miracles, as miracles of mercy. The 
miracle by which he gave power to the devils to enter into 
the swine ; that by which the barren fig-tree was cursed, 
and withered ; and that by which he turned water into 
wine. 

There is in none of these facts any inconsistency with 
the view given of the general character of our Lord's mi- 
racles. The subjects of all the three are taken from the in- 
animate, or from the brute creation ; and they were all 
clearly intended to serve as vehicles of salutary or of merci- 
ful instruction. The permission given to the devils to enter 
into the swine, and to destroy them, held up an impressive 
lesson to the Jews, who had the presumption to eat the 
flesh of swine in open violation of the Mosaical law; and 
was perhaps intended besides, to demonstrate the separate 
existence of the evil spirits from the spirits of the men, out 
of whom our Lord ejected them. On either of these suppo- 
sitions, or on both, the miracle was done in kindness or in 
mercy to those who witnessed it. The effect produced on 
the barren fig-tree was an act of power on an inanimate 
object, which was manifestly intended to convey salutary 
instruction to his disciples ; to convince them, that the powers 
of nature were all alike subject to his command ; and to 
enforce the admonition, which he immediately subjoined, to 
teach them faith in Him who sent him. The last of the 
three examples, (that which represents our Lord as turning 
w ater into wine at a marriage,) was not, in strict language, 
a miracle of mercy ; but it gave a striking and emblematical 
view of our Lord's peculiar character ; of the unaffected sim- 
plicity with which he mixed with every order of the people. 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



511 



rejoicing with them who rejoiced, as well as comforting 

them who wept ; and of the opposition between the simpli- 
city of his manners, and the morose and unjustifiable seve- 
rity which hypocrites assume, and which, in kindness to 
those who should believe on him, he uniformly condemned 
and discountenanced. 



THE END. 



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